The Darkest Part of a Ninja
by hanatsukiko25
Summary: The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.
1. Prologue

In a world filled with hatred, there existed five countries—Konohagakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure. There were often feuds between them that over time had passed and everything would be back to normal again. Although this time, Sasuke knew that it wouldn't be so easy this time. He had attempted to leave once before but was caught by Kakashi when he tried to leave through the forest to the other side of the country. From there he would have gone around the country and made it to Orochimaru.

He felt annoyed at that, and his plan would have gone so smoothly if Kakashi wasn't there. And this time, Sasuke had a different route in mind. Facing left of the village gate, if he could go over the wall at the right moment and time, he would make it. He had faith he could do it this time. Besides, he had to do it. Not just for training, but to avenge his clan.

The night was cold with a soft, breezy wind. The moon was covered in white, puffy clouds, making it easier to make his escape. He used his seventh sense and tried to feel anyone close to him. No one seemed to be around, and he slyly ran through the village, careful not to make a sound.

After about half an hour he made it to the other side. Confidently he smirked, uncaught. He scaled the plain white wall, carefully searching to see anyone watching him. Realizing he was honestly by himself and he was just exaggerating, and began going faster. Finally he reached the top and stood up, stretching.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted from below. Sasuke stomach dropped and he slowly looked down. Naruto face was humorless, unlike the usual cheerful. Sasuke sent him a malevolent look and quickly turned back around. He jumped off the wall, cautiously landing away from trees. 'Why do you want to leave so bad?' Naruto thought, racing to Shikamaru`s home. Everyone was asleep and not a single light was on, the moonlight guiding Naruto to where he needed to go.

Naruto knocked on his house door loudly, unknowing he was sleeping. After what seemed like forever to Naruto he knocked again, louder this time. For the love of patience he just kept knocking until Shikamaru _finally_ answered the door. "What the hell, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, rubbing his eyes. "You woke my parents up with your impatience." Naruto anime sweat dropped. "Hahah, I'm sorry about that. It's just that this is an emergency." Shikamaru seemed more awake now. "Oh really? What is it?" he asked, sarcastically. "Sasuke left again."

Shikamaru and Naruto raced through the Hidden Leaf Village, rushing to Tsunade's Office. Shikamaru and Naruto knocked countless times until someone answered the door. "What the hell? Can't you see the ti—" the sensei began, looking at Naruto and Shikamaru, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize it was you guys."

"We need to see Grandma Tsunade." Naruto told him. The sensei nodded as they entered the office. Everything in Tsunade's office was generally kept clean, well, everything except her desk that is. Shikamaru and Naruto anime sweat dropped at the sight. "Does she ever take the time to clean her desk?" Shikamaru asked, amazed at the piles of papers and documents scattered on her desk. "Ah...no, probably not." Naruto laughed. The two followed the sensei to a particular room. "Stay out here. It's not very easy waking up for important things, you know." Naruto nodded and Shikamaru sent him a bored expression.

"Can we just get on with this already?" The sensei nodded as Naruto and Shikamaru slowly backed away from the door. The sensei knocked on her door loudly. He didn't hear a single noise and started knocking again. He impatiently sighed and knocked even _louder_.

Tsunade busted through the door, clearly enraged from being woken up. "What the hell? Who woke me up!" The sensei backed away, putting his hands up in defense. "These, uh, two ninjas wanted to see you ma'am." Still angry, she scoffed at seeing the sensei cowering in the corner. She turned to Naruto and Shikamaru, looking more serious. "What is it you need?" Naruto stepped up. "We need permission to leave the village. Sasuke left and who knows where he could have gone this time." Her eyes widened in astonishment. "I thought he said he..." she thought aloud.

Her eyes became enraged again. "I will not be lied to anymore! I give you permission to go after him. I will also send—" she was interrupted by Naruto's hand. "Shikamaru and I want to go alone. We can do this, Grandma Tsunade." Tsunade nodded, having her doubts, but ignoring them. "Be sure to bring him straight to _my _office when you find him. Understand?" Naruto and Shikamaru nodded, and quickly left the office. "Naruto, where did you see him leave at?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto looked at his surroundings carefully.

"Lets see...from the left of the village gate, if you keep going left you come to an enormous white wall." Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief. "Are you telling me you saw him climb that huge wall?" "No, but I saw him getting to the top. Come on, we have to hurry!" Naruto and Shikamaru sprinted to the left of the village. When they arrived Naruto and Shikamaru immediately jumped on the white wall and began climbing. Without thinking twice Naruto jumped off, landing on his feet carefully. "Well, here goes nothing..." Shikamaru jumped off after him.

Tsunade had just sent Naruto and Shikamaru off to find Sasuke when a shadow figure came into her office. She gasped, "Who are you?" Without a second thought the figure knocked her out, taking the blue crystal necklace she was wearing, and transported else where.

Naruto and Shikamaru stopped at a lush grass field lit by the moonlight. Sasuke was lying in the tall grass, hoping they wouldn't see him. But because of the wind, they noticed his spiked hair from the back of his head. "Hyaa!" Naruto threw a shuriken at Sasuke as he clashed back. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Countless clones of Naruto appeared everywhere.

Sasuke scoffed at the sight and began kicking all of them as they began to disappear. Clones from behind Sasuke grabbed him as Naruto powered his Rasengan. 'When did he...get so strong?' Sasuke thought, struggling to break free of his grasp. Naruto charged at him with his Rasengan. The other two clones disappeared at the impact and Sasuke flew back into a tree. Blood dripped from Sasuke's mouth as he breathed rapidly from the hit. Sasuke stood up as Shikamaru came behind him silently and put a kunai to his neck. "Why do you want to leave so bad?" Shikamaru asked, whispering in Sasuke's ear. Sasuke mockingly laughed. "The same reason as last time. Besides," he began, looking at Naruto, "staying here will not help me get stronger." Naruto stepped up to him.

"You don't know that! Kakashi-sensei said he would teach you jutsus that are ten times Orochimaru`s strength!" Naruto pleaded, "You know, I've _always_ thought of you as my brother. In fact, you and Iruka-sensei were the closest people I've ever been close to..." Naruto grimaced, looking at Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. He never thought Naruto even thought about him like that. But even so, Sasuke still had to get stronger to avenge his clan. Sasuke shook his head. "We're nothing alike. You can stop that talk right now, Naruto." "No! You refuse to believe it, don't you?" "Believe what!" Sasuke spat out. "That you can actually get stronger if you stay here!"

"Tsunade!" Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, shouted. Shizune came to her side, realizing her breathing was slower than usual. 'Who could have done this?' Shizune thought, a worried expression on her face. She stood up and opened the wooden window by Tsunade's desk. A medium sized bird flew onto the pane as Shizune placed a folded up note into its mouth.

It flew away as she walked back over to Tsunade. "I won't forgive who ever did this to you!" Shizune shouted in frustration. Meanwhile, the brown bird made its way to the other four countries, each giving the other kages the same message—Tsunade is in a state of a coma, and no one has any idea who could have done it.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sasuke's fight raged on. Sasuke threw punches and kicks as Naruto dodged and Shikamaru used Naruto as a diversion to attack Sasuke from behind. Sasuke flew but caught himself quickly. "Shadow Possession Jutsu!" A slivering shadow came from Shikamaru and quickly caught Sasuke.

Every movement Shikamaru made, Sasuke made as well. 'I'm fucked!' Sasuke thought, shaking at the thought of losing his life. If he were to die at the hands of Shikamaru, it would be better than dieing at the hands of Orochimaru, or even worse his own brother who killed his clan. But what if the revenge he wanted wasn't enough? It would be. There was no question about that.

Naruto nodded to Shikamaru, who through what looked like an explosive bomb to Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened as a deafening sound was heard. Shikamaru stopped the jutsu just in time as he and Naruto went flying back into the trees. Up ahead, Naruto and Shikamaru couldn't believe what they saw.

Shizune sat in the first chair as the other kages sat in the other four. The Mizukage spoke first. "So who do you think would've done that to her? It's obviously not anyone from my country..." she said in thought. "How do you know? It could have been anyone!" the Raikage shouted. The Tsuchikage just laughed. "I think someone in here is lying to us."

Everyone looked at each other with evil glares. Shizune shook her head. "Guys I think we-" and with that they started pointing fingers. Everyone was fighting and even screaming until Shizune stood up,"That's enough! We will not have this kind of behavior in this meeting." Everyone shut up as Shizune began to speak.

"Tsunade was out cold by the time I found her, meaning anyone could have come in her office and easily take her necklace, which they did. That necklace is _very_ important to her and is highly valuable."

"You don't say?"

Two dark figures wearing black coats with hoods covering their faces had randomly appeared in the room with them. "Who are you?" the Mizukage demanded. "Are you the ones who hurt Tsunade?" Shizune demanded. The taller one chuckled. "This beginning is the end of your world..." and with that, the two shadow figures disappeared. Shizune looked around. "Uh, where is Raikage?" He wasn't in the room with them anymore. This could only mean one thing...

Two dark figures were emerging from the smoke. The taller one, whom had olive skin and long silvery hair that reached past his shoulders and deep ember eyes that seemed to tell everything about him. The shorter figure had long deep blue hair with a scar of an 'x' in the middle of his forehead, and he also had deep ember eyes, but his didn't seem to say a lot about him. He looked sort of...distant.

The blue haired one looked to the side. "It seems this imbecile had joined us for the ride." The silver haired one picked up the Raikage and threw him against the ground. Raikage shouted in pain as a deep aperture opened in the ground. Both of them turned back to Sasuke and Shikamaru and Naruto and smiled mischievously.

The blue haired one transported in front of Naruto and raised him by his collar. "My name is Saix..." he said, three fingers on Naruto's chest. He moved his three fingers back. Naruto gasped in surprise and fell on the ground, his heart in Saix's hands. Shikamaru looked totally astonished and charged at Saix when he wasn't looking.

The silver haired one did the same thing to Sasuke and told him, "My name is Xemnas, leader of the organization..." and grabbed his heart out forcedly. Sasuke fell, too, until a giant shuriken come flying at both Xemnas and Saix. The two ninja's hearts were back into their bodies and with satisfied looks, they vanished. The Raikage stood up, trying to catch air. When he tried to look for Sasuke and Naruto, and even their friend, they were now gone, too.

Shikamaru had carried his two friends on his back to get to the Konoha Hospital. He knew he wasn't strong enough to take the other guy with him and Shikamaru figured he'd be alright. After a while passed he arrived at the Hospital and quickly came in. The nurses saw their condition and took them both immediately. Shikamaru leaned back on the closest bench near him slowly; exhausted that it was almost dawn. 'Who were those guys? They looked so different from any ninja I've ever seen...if they even were ninjas." Shikamaru scoffed, kicking the ground. A young ninja with light long brown hair and dark brown eyes came in, looking exhausted.

"Excuse me, can I see Mei Akane?" The nurse looked through a book that read 'Patients'. The nurse shook her head. "You can not visit until her visiting hours are in effect." The young girl sighed, and looked around for a place to sit. Of course, all of them were filled up except a place beside Shikamaru.

Too stressed out to notice, Shikamaru had been sweating and didn't realize it so he took down his hair and hit his head gently against the wall. The girl raised an eyebrow. 'He's kind of cute...' she had thought, blushing a bit. She walked over to him and taped on his shoulder. Shikamaru slowly looked over. "Um, can I sit here?" she asked, pointing to the empty space next to Shikamaru. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, I guess." She nodded and sat. Shikamaru tied his hair back up, "Hey, is Naruto and Sasuke alright?" he called to the nurse. "We have not received word from them anytime recently. I am sorry." Shikamaru sighed heavily, standing up. He nodded to the nurse, leaving, "Thanks anyway." The girl looked after him, 'What is his name?'

The Raikage was now in her office. The Anbu had him cornered as the leader of the Anbu black ops sat at her desk, asking him questions. "Who were the culprits?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you. They wore black coats and they looked strangely similar to each other."

"Describe to me where they were hiding."

"They transported to us out of nowhere and I was close enough to them that I came with them to a lush field. Their strength was unimaginable compared to any other I've ever faced." The leader shook his head in disbelief. Would anyone be willing to listen to the Raikage?


	2. Welcome To The Organization

The night was darkened and humid. The sounds of the oceans waves were calm and relaxing, along with the scenery he could see along with it. The moonlight reflected off the ocean's waves and into the sky, making it visible in the area. The sand was pleasantly warm, along with the balmy weather. The clouds were scattered above everyone in The Castle That Never Was, or better yet Twilight Town as well. He wished everyone could see it that very moment, because tonight he was going to name two new nobodies who would now share the black coat.

He walked over the warm, damp sand, searching for them. He knew they would be here. Where else would a person's nobody from another world be if they always end up at the World that Never Was? That sounded pretty obvious when he actually thought about it.

After a while of searching, he caught sight of the nobody. It wasn't just _one_ nobody like he thought, but _two_. They sat on a curved cliff, one with bright blue eyes and spiky-ish blond hair, but with thick blue streaks. He wore a tight orange shirt with blue pants and white shoes with our nobody symbol on both sides of it. Around his head was a headband with the same symbol of the place he had come from.

The other seemed more approachable than the other. He had short blue-ish black hair and bangs that stopped at his neck. His hair was lightly sticking up in the back and he had the darkest brown eyes. So much that you could only tell their true color in the night. He wore a dark blue shirt with the nobody symbol on it and a headband around his neck that had the symbol of the world he had came from. Both of them stared up at the illuminate moon, the more approachable one eyeing more curiously, and the more distant one lost in his own world, but looking at it as well.

He transported to the cliff they rested on. Both of them turned around, frightened. The more curious one just looked at him, and the distant one moved away some. He put his hands on their shoulders. "A lovely view, isn't it?" He looked up to the heart shaped moon that was getting larger everyday, thanks to Roxas and Xion.

He looked both of them in the eye, "You two are part of a very important race. A race that involves becoming a part of the world your other selves come from. We," he began, standing up, "are going to one day rule the universe! Are you not proud, my brethren?"

The more curious one stood up, a bit wobbly a first, but looked him in the eyes and smiled, a confident glimmer in his eyes. The more distant one, thinking before acting, stayed sitting for a few minutes, then stood up in front of him and nodded, a slight smile on his face. Xemnas smiled and placed his hand on the curious one's head. He eyed Xemnas confusedly both watched his actions anyway.

The curious one's real selves name came in between Xemnas's hands, and twisted into his new name. "Ausskex is your name." Xemnas whispered in his ear. The curious boy stood there, thinking about his name over and over. 'Ausskex...Ausskex...'

The more distant and hesitant one stepped back a bit, unsure of Xemnas's actions. "What is there to be afraid of? I am one of you, my brother." The more distant one started to slightly relax and stepped a little bit closer. Xemnas placed his hand on the distant one's forehead, causing him to flinch a bit. The silver haired leader closed his eyes, seeing the boy's other self's name.

He moved his hand away from the boy's forehead and clapped his hand together. The distant boy eyed him carefully, unsure if he should really trust this guy. Xemnas opened his hands up to the boy revealing his new name to him.

"Ratonux...is your new name boy." After a couple of minutes Xemnas closed his hands, the name Ratonux vanishing in front of his eyes. He opened a transporter and eyed the other two nobodies. "Come with me to your new home. There are others in the world, such as us, who are the same." Xemnas made a hand motion to follow and entered the purple abyss without another word.

Ausskex happily entered, jumping into the purple abyss. Ratonux hesitated, unsure of his decision, but where else would he go? This cliff didn't have everything he knew he needed. Ratonux sighed and dived in the purple abyss, leaving the sight of the heart shaped moon.

Xemnas came out of the purple abyss he had made, Ausskex and Ratonux coming out after him. He turned around to face them. "This room is The Grey Area, a place you may rest when you have finished your mission or, rarely, if you don't have one. I will show you to your rooms after a while, so stay here until then." And with that, Xemnas was gone.

Ausskex looked around The Grey Area. It had a couple of tables and chairs, and few couches. He sat on a couch, stretching his feet onto the table in front of him. Unlike Ausskex, Ratonux sat in a black chair close by him patiently, keeping his feet on the floor.

A few minutes later Axel came into The Grey Area. He noticed Ausskex and Ratonux's big eyes when they saw how tall he was. Axel anime sweat dropped. "So these are the new guys...?"

Ausskex tried to pronounce what he was saying. "New...guys?" Axel nodded. "Yep, you are. Got it memorized?" Ausskex nodded, learning something new.

Axel looked at them both. "The boss wants everyone to meet you, so he wants me to show you where to go. Are you guys ready to go?" Ratonux and Ausskex looked at each other, and then nodded. They both stood up and started to follow Axel to meet everyone.

"Our two newest members from a much different world than ours: Ausskex and Ratonux." Xemnas announced to everyone. All of the organization members eyed both of them. Ausskex wasn't frightened in any way; he looked them straight in the eye. But unlike Ausskex, Ratonux was quite shy and kept his hood over his head and stood up straight.

Once they had left The Round Room, Ausskex sat in The Grey Area, relaxed with his eyes closed. Ratonux had gone to his bedroom early, wanting to be alone.

Demyx entered the room with his guitar, sitting on the couch across from Ausskex. "So Ausskex, do you play any instruments?" Ausskex opened an eye, looking at Demyx. "No." he answered plainly, closing his eyes again. Demyx shrugged his shoulders. "Alright..."

Axel came in and sat next to Ausskex. "So...? How do you like the organization?" Ausskex opened his eyes, "Yes, but..._why_ am I here? What's my purpose?" The room was instantly filled with silence upon Ausskex's question. It was silent because Axel wasn't supposed to say anything, and Demyx really didn't know so he couldn't tell him anything.

"It's a job, you could say. Saix wanted me to tell you that tomorrow morning you start your first mission with your friend Ratonux. If you need anything, just come find me. Got it memorized?" Ausskex nodded as he stood up and walked to his room.

Ratonux sat in his small, grey room alone, thinking to himself. Was he really what they said he was? Is this place...where he truly belongs? It was hard for him to speak sometimes, mostly because he was practically just 'born'.

Ratonux looked at his new black coat, admiring how cool it looked. Just thinking about how he even became apart of this organization seemed like a mystery to him. But then again, was it really a mystery? All he remembered was just _being_ there on that cliff...and the boy next to him, it was like he had been best friends with him for a long time, but he didn't even know the boy's name. So then how was it possible that he felt that towards him? He didn't know, but he hoped to find answers along the way.

The next morning Ausskex and Ratonux entered The Grey Area to obtain their first mission from Saix. "Hello, Ausskex, Ratonux. Are you ready for your mission?" They both nodded eagerly.

Marluxia came in from mission at that moment through the purple abyss. He looked at Saix, then Ratonux and Ausskex. "Are you leaving on your first mission? I supposed your going to need these," Marluxia asked, handing both of them a sword that fit them well.

Ratonux obtained a silvery sword with the nobody symbol crested into the side, along with the Hidden Leaf Village's symbol on the other side. The hilt was a mixed orange and blue. The blade looked fairly sharp for fighting with.

Ausskex's sword was about the same, the nobody symbol crested in red on one side and the Hidden Leaf village symbol crested in a lime green on the other, but the hilt of the sword was a dark blue mixed with white. But the blade looked just as sharp as Ratonux's.

"Thanks..."Ratonux held the light blade, admiring the blades texture. 'What is this feeling...?' Ratonux thought, slightly smiling at the thought, but still fairly confused. He had never felt these kinds of feelings before. But then again, he was just 'born' yesterday.

Ausskex grinned, swinging his sword around. Saix and Marluxia anime sweat dropped. "Are you trying to kill someone?" Marluxia asked him. Ausskex turned around and put his sword in his sheath, scratching the back of his head. "Hahah, sorry about that..." Saix sighed of agitation.

"Your mission today will be with Roxas, one of our strongest." Just as he said that Roxas had come in and walked up to Saix. "What's my mission today?"

Saix turned toward Ausskex and Ratonux. "You will be teaching these two the basics of a mission. You will depart as soon as you're ready." Roxas slowly turned towards them as they turned to him.

"Are you ready to go?" Roxas asked. The two nodded their heads as Roxas opened a purple abyss, making a hand motion for them to follow, just as Xemnas had done to them before.

They stepped out to a friendly looking place, filled with homes and shops and empty streets. The sky was much different than Ausskex and Ratonux had ever seen—twilight sky, almost like the day was going to be over soon.

Roxas turned around to face them. "This is Twilight Town. This town may not look it but there are many people who live here and it's best if we go to the Underground Passage."

The two nodded as they began following Roxas. Children around the area were with their families, either having a picnic or watching the people of Twilight Town play Struggle.

As they entered the Underground Passage, Roxas turned to face them. "The key to completing a mission is pretty much doing what the mission asks for. For example," Roxas began, extending his arm to an empty area, five heartless instantly appearing in that area, "if your mission asked to destroy five heartless, like these over here, that would be your objective in your mission."

Ausskex smiled competitively to Ratonux, "Sounds like fun." Roxas shrugged. "We're nobodies. Where do we feel 'fun'?" Ratonux's eyebrows came together, confused. "What do you mean, 'where do we feel it'?"

Roxas didn't like to lie, but he didn't like to be straightforward either. Roxas turned to the side, "You see, we are beings called 'heartless'. We were 'born' without a heart. The feelings we feel are the feelings we felt before we were a heartless." Ratonux looked at Roxas, astonished. How much stranger could this world be?

Roxas shrugged the feeling of not having a heart and raised his head to face them again. "Anyway, how about you two try taking out these heartless?"

Ratonux shrugged off the feeling as well and charged at the Heartless along with Ausskex. He slashed the first yellow opera with ease, Ausskex taking out the other. With three left, Ratonux finished the other two off in a single blow. Ausskex was having trouble defeating the last one, constantly missing his attacks. Ratonux came behind the yellow opera and defeated it, a small pink heart emerging from it, raising it the sky.

Ratonux and Ausskex put their swords in their sheaths and walked back to Roxas. He smiled at their victory. "That was perfect. Ausskex, you should try aiming better, or practice for the very least. Oh, by the way," Roxas began, looking around, "On your missions to _any_ world you go to, Xemnas forbids anyone to associate with the locals. It's alright if it was an accident the first time, but he won't forgive you the second time. Stay sharp of your surroundings, okay?" the two nodded to his explanation, showing understanding.

"Right, so I guess we can RTC then."

"RT what?" Ausskex asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Return to castle. You jump back into the dark portal we came through, here," Roxas showed, "then we come back to it when our mission is done to return to the castle."

"I understand." Roxas nodded to him. "Let's go." The three jumped into the portal, Ratonux and Ausskex finishing their first mission.

They arrived back at The Grey Area. Ratonux walked straight to Saix. "Can I ask you a question?" Saix raised brow, "What would that be?"

Ratonux eyes fell to the ground, to his sword, than to his hands. "What is...my true purpose for being here?"

"To collect hearts for the organization, of course."

"I've told you everything I know. This is all I can tell you." Raikage explained. He had been forced to come back to Tsunade's office to explain truthfully what had happened. The captain of the Anbu really wasn't that sharp when it came down to it.

Shikamaru opened the door randomly. "I was there with Naruto and sasuke when they were hurt. To be precise _I_ was the one to bring them back to Konoha. Let the Raikage go and I'll explain everything."

The Anbu captain looked astonished to his outburst at first, and then he seemed more serious. "Alright then, explain it to me in full detail."

"Right, you may go Raikage." Shikamaru sat down in the chair next to the Raikage as he stood up to leave. "Thank you, boy."

"No problem. Just doing my job here." Shikamaru looked the Anbu captain in the eyes. "You ready for me to explain, or are you just going to keep staring at me like that?" the Anbu captain instantly broke out of his trance, blushing of embarrassment. "Ah, sorry. Go right ahead."

"Sasuke had tried to escape the village again, and Naruto had gotten me to help him bring Sasuke back. We ended up tracking down at a lush field outside Konoha and just so you know, we did ask Tsunade for permission before we left. Me and Naruto fought Sasuke together until two men arrived and took what looked like their actual _hearts_ out of their bodies. If the Raikage had never distracted them with shurikens Naruto and Sasuke would not have even been alive. The men left after they attempted to steal their hearts and I took them back to Konoha so the hospital could treat their wounds."

The Anbu captain nodded in understanding. "What did the two men look like?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment, trying to remember. "They wore black coats. The taller one had silver hair and amber eyes, and the shorter one had dark blue hair and amber eyes as well." The Anbu captain nodded, writing the description down. "And when was this?"

"Two nights ago from today."

The Anbu sorted his notes together. "There is something I do not understand, from the details you told me."

"What is it you don't understand?"

"What would two strangers want with a heart?"

The next morning Ausskex and Ratonux were to start their second mission. The two entered The Grey Area together as Roxas greeted them. "Hey guys. Are you ready for your next tutorial mission?"

"I'm pumped. I don't think I've ever been more ready." Ausskex said, stretching his legs. Ratonux smiled confidently. "I'm ready."

Roxas nodded, opening another transporter. Ratonux and Ausskex followed after Roxas into the portal. After the portal closed up, Axel came in The Grey Area with Xion in his hands. "I caught her in Castle Oblivion. She was going through the computer's data base saying she wanted to 'find out who she really was'."

Saix nodded, taking her from him. "I'll be sure to take her punishment very seriously."

Axel put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't do anything too harsh, okay?" He spun around to face him. "If you didn't want me to take it seriously then why did you bring her to me? You should have just left her if you felt that way." And with that, Saix left the room, plotting Xion's punishment. Axel lowered his head, feeling disgusted with himself. How could he have done that to his best friend?

The three arrived in a desert area. There were buildings in this world like there had been in Twilight Town, but not as much as Twilight town had. Roxas looked around, seeing that no one was around today. He turned to them, "This world is Agrabah. Today your mission is to defeat five heartless again and explore your area for clues about the worlds."

"What kind of clues?" Ausskex asked, looking around the area. "Clues that determine where you are, who lives there, etc. But you will not come in contact with the people who live here."

"Right," Ratonux and Ausskex said in unison. "Oh, by the way," Roxas began, "when you defeat a heartless, do you notice a heart coming out of it when you do?"

"Yeah, I did notice that." Ratonux told him, recalling yesterday.

"The hearts that come out of the heartless is what the organization wants. They want it to build what you see in the sky in The Grey Area."

"You mean that heart-shaped moon? I thought that was natural." Ausskex commented, slightly surprised.

"Anyway, the clues you are to be looking for are strange things in the area that don't exactly fit with the area's environment, and possibly hidden places you wouldn't have thought were there."

After a while of searching, the two of them came back. Ausskex had a piece of paper and pencil while Ratonux had nothing. "So? What did you guys find?"

"Some parts of the wall do not have sand on them, and the town has sand storms quite often so it's possible the town could be engulfed in sand eventually." Roxas nodded in approval. "That's exactly what Xemnas is looking for in your missions. Ratonux?"

"I found a huge hole in the wall not too far from this area and I went through to investigate. It led to a hidden cave that was shaped as a creature's mouth."

Roxas looked surprised. "That's amazing! I guess you both are done from here. Let's RTC."

Roxas entered through the purple-black portal, the other two happily following after him.

"Xion!" Roxas called, running to her side. They had just gotten back and Roxas found Xion sitting in one of the chairs, her head resting on her arms.

"Xion," he asked, touching her arm, "what's wrong?" "It's nothing, Roxas. I'll be fine, I'm just tired." How could she tell her best friend the torment she had just gone through?


	3. Goodbye, Halcyon Days

Slowly opening his eyes, the scenes of what happened days before played in his mind. He wanted it to stop, but it just kept rewinding itself. The silver haired man had put his hand not too far from his chest. The pull he felt from the man's hand was _agonizing_. He wouldn't have been surprised if there was actually a wound there.

The hospital lights blinded him at first but he quickly adjusted. He oddly could feel bandages on his stomach and arms, but not over his heart. He gently touched his hand on his chest.

There was no kind of pain where he had felt pain before. It couldn't have been his nerves, it just _wasn't_.

The hospital room was as white as a ghost. His neck was covered in bandages, too, but he had to good of excellent hearing to think there was no one else in the room with him.

Sasuke's breathing was unusually heavy, though he had had much more fatal wounds than Naruto did. Considering how many times Naruto hit him with his Rasengan, it actually made sense there. You didn't have to add more detail.

Naruto sighed in relief. 'I actually brought him back...' Naruto was appeased because he, once again, had not failed to bring his friend back. Deep inside, Naruto hoped Sasuke would give up and just train at the village so Kakashi-sensei and Sakura wouldn't have to be saddened when they knew their friend just wanted to leave.

To a point, it made Naruto despondent because all he ever wanted was Sasuke to be blissful with life instead of always focusing on his revenge. But Naruto knew, deep inside, that that would never happen. Not while his brother was still living.

Naruto turned his head to Sasuke, whom was resting peacefully. Naruto could make a guess that his mind wasn't at peace, though. When he awoke, he would be furious from their fight from before and annoyed that they were in the same room. That was how Sasuke was the last time they brought him back.

If anything, Naruto was hoping Sasuke would open his eyes and see the people that really _do_ care about him and to lose his thoughts about revenge. Naruto sighed, 'Sakura worries about him all the time...there has to be something I can do.'

From the outside hallway Naruto could hear someone coming. He shut his eyes, thinking it was a nurse, and attempted to drift off again.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke, are you guys awake?" Shikamaru entered the room, assuming they were awake. He glanced around the room, anime sweat dropping. They were both asleep.

It was just Shikamaru's luck. Here he came to visit his friends, whom had been in the hospital for three days now, and it was already noon and they weren't awake. He quietly walked over to Naruto's bedside and left a 'get well soon' card from Sakura then left his own next to hers. Shikamaru had explained to Sakura that Sasuke had tried to leave again, and he almost regretted that he did.

_Flashback~_

_Shikamaru leaned his back outside on the hospitals building, thinking about what took place a couple nights ago. He stared up at the grey clouded sky, almost looking like it could rain any moment. He about the fight, and the blows Sasuke and Naruto took from each other. He wondered how Naruto could take all of that from his best friend._

_Much to his surprise, his head turned to the gentle voice he'd grown to know from being around Naruto and his friends. Sakura waved to him and took a seat on the ground next to him. Sakura talked about many things, like how she thought Naruto had made Sasuke stay for sure this time, and how it almost looked like Sasuke seemed happier._

_But, to be honest, he knew that was too good to be true. He knew he was too lost in thought to listen to all of her story, and how he wished he didn't have to tell her the truth._

"_...Everything has been so great. Um, Shikamaru, are you even listening to me?" Sakura crossed her arms over her chest, showing she wasn't too happy about his listening skills._

_He sighed, turning himself to face her. "Sakura, about Sasuke..." he began, a pained expression on his face, "he tried to leave again, just yesterday night. Naruto brought him back again but now their both in the hospital."_

_The grey clouds in the sky seemed as if they had gotten greyer and Sakura's expression almost matched the clouds. The clouds let out a roar of thunder as they began to weep, their tears falling from the broad sky. Sakura's tears streamed down her face, her cotton candy pink hair hiding her eyes._

_He knew how upset she was. He knew what it felt like to lose someone close to you, and to think they were getting better when they really weren't. Though there was nothing in the world that could ever tell you that there wasn't any hope._

_If there was, Shikamaru wouldn't have become a ninja when he wanted to._

_He embraced his pink haired friend in a hug as she let all of her emotions out. She lamented over how she __**believed**__ Sasuke had changed, how everything she told Shikamaru was so...__**awry**__._

_She had believed that he could change for so long that she had no more strength left to have faith anymore. If anything she didn't even want to cross the same path as him. It didn't matter if it turned out he really cared anyway. It would never make up for the many times she showed how she had cared for him._

_She sobbed into his shoulder for the longest time, and the whole time she cried the sky wept. She eventually broke from his shoulder, the last of her warm tears escaping from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Shikamaru. I'm so sorry I kept you like this."_

_Shikamaru sighed, an embarrassed expression creeping on his face. "Don't mention it."_

_Without warning, Sakura kissed his lips and then broke the kiss quickly. "Thank you..." Sakura stood up and left the spot she was sitting at for the longest time, and as she left the sky began to clear into a shinning, vivid appearance._

'_Why did she just kiss me?' he gently touched his lips, remembering her exact words. Shikamaru sighed, 'Women...'_

Sakura seemed happier than usual since then and it was like Sasuke was wiped from her mind, and it had only been a day. Sakura had told him to give the card she was handing him to Naruto. It almost amazed him how she never mentioned Sasuke. 'She must really be over him.' Shikamaru thought, glancing at Sasuke's peaceful face. He knew from Naruto and the many times he'd escaped that he probably was no where _close_ to being peaceful inside.

Or maybe assuming isn't such a good thing after all. It wasn't like Shikamaru could read his thoughts or anything...or if Sasuke's expressions said it all.

Shikamaru grabbed a small brown chair and placed it in between Naruto and Sasuke's beds. He sat in the chair and surveyed the room. It was naturally bright for a hospital room and the walls were white as well. There weren't any windows and the only sound that could be really noticeably heard was Sasuke's unusually heavy breathing.

His forehead was covered in sweat. 'It could be from the heavy wound he has...or maybe it could be a nightmare? Well, he did lose his clan...' Shikamaru thought, thinking to his ability.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up in bed slowly, stretching. "Ahhhhh Good Morning Nur-"

Naruto shut up when he saw that Shikamaru had token the place the nurse should have been. "Shikamaru, what happened to the nurse?"

Shikamaru anime sweat dropped. "I don't know! I just got here!"

"Oh...hahahahaha...sorry," Naruto scratched the back of his head, embarrassed by his outburst, "so what brings you here?"

Shikamaru nodded, getting to business. "Do you not remember what happened the few nights before?" Naruto nodded in response. "Okay, so I'm trying to figure out what those two strange people wanted with your heart."

It was as if something inside Naruto had woken up, like a memory shot up as a projector screen in his mind. He couldn't see the figure's hands clearly, but Shikamaru was definitely right. They had pulled _something _out of his chest. He had felt it.

Sasuke's pale eyelids opened slightly, as if in a daze. He tried to remember all of the past events from before that led up to where he was now, but he didn't even know where he was to begin with. He glanced around the white walls and down at the plain white flooring. When his hearing came back to him, he knew instantly where he was.

'Why am I at the hospital?' he wondered. He glanced over to see Shikamaru chatting with..._Naruto_. He clenched his fists at the sight of that. "What are you doing here?" he shouted, clearly furious.

Shikamaru was startled a bit, as was Naruto, but he still kept his distance. "I am here to ask you something." he began, a serious expression on his face, "Do you remember what happened the night you tried to escape?" Sasuke was beyond furious by now, from what Shikamaru could tell. Naruto was ready to swiftly stand up to fight Sasuke if it was needed.

"What do _you _care? What do you _think _I was trying to do? Fuck you and your stupid damn question." Sasuke stood up and angrily passed by Shikamaru, giving Naruto a death glare, and exited the room without making too much of a sound. They didn't try to stop him because they knew somewhere between the room they were in and the actual exit to the hospital he would be caught for one of two reasons. One, he was wearing the clothes the hospital gave the patients after they had been in the emergency room so it would be easy to tell if he was trying to escape. Two, nurses usually walk by the rooms a lot to see if everything's okay. In this case, everything was not okay.

"What the hell?" Sasuke's scream was so loud they could hear it from their room. Then again, Sasuke had just left. The nurses literally dragged him by his arms to the room and threw him on his bed. "You are not leaving this room until you fully recuperate. Do you understand me, young man?" The nurse had her hands on her hips, irritation clearly in her voice. All three of the nurses left and closed the door loudly.

Sasuke scoffed and threw his blanket over his head, not wanting to see anyone. "Anyway, I was talking to this girl I had met the day you both went into the hospital and she gave me something that could help us find our answers."

Shikamaru pulled out of his pocket a necklace of a strange symbol Naruto honestly didn't recognize. "What _is _that?"

Shikamaru twirled the necklace in between his fingers. "She didn't really know but she was on a mission just yesterday and she had gone past the lush fields we had fought at. She found this necklace in the fields." Sasuke slightly turned over, listening to their interesting conversation.

Sasuke's arm was pushed back, about to charge his chidori. Realizing this, Naruto quickly put his hands together to form his favorite hand seal to do his favorite jutsu. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Unfortunately, nothing happened. Not just with Naruto, but Sasuke as well. Naruto glanced down at his hands, seeing he wasn't doing the right hand symbol to do it. Or was he? He strangely couldn't remember. This had never happened to Naruto before. He knew this jutsu by heart.

"Wow, why can't I..." Naruto focused on his hands, trying to get the right symbol. "Damn it! Why isn't this working?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise. His friend had _always _done Shadow Clone Jutsu. Why now, of all times, did he forget how to do it?

Sasuke was just as surprised, if not more. "Chidori, don't fail on me now." Sasuke demanded, talking to himself.

Naruto and Shikamaru anime sweat dropped. "Aw man, this is worse than I thought..." Shikamaru had a bad feeling in his gut about those strange guys, and even worse they might have taken Naruto and Sasuke's jutsus! The only thing that he could think of to do was to wait for Tsunade to wake up. That would be the only way to determine what they could do next.

"Another mission completed, I guess." Ausskex said and stretched as he and Ratonux came out of the purple abyss. It was eerily quiet, even if it was always quiet anyway. Ratonux had this feeling someone was coming towards them, and it was something serious.

Roxas and Xion had come running in The Grey Area just as the thought crossed Ratonux's mind. "I know you guys are new, but Xion and I need your help."

Ausskex cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Help? With what?"

Roxas glanced from left to right, and then back to Ausskex. "I think I found a way to find out why were _really _here. Are you guys willing to come with us to Castle Oblivion?"

Roxas glanced from Ausskex to Ratonux, anxious to hear their answers. Xion, on the other hand, stared into space in a completely different direction, a blank expression on her face. Ausskex bit his lip and decided to think about the situation as Ratonux studied Xion's face. 'She looks like she's going through so much pain...'

Ratonux turned to Roxas, a confident look in his eyes. "I am willing. I need to know why I'm here."

Roxas nodded with a slight smile and turned to Ausskex. "What about you?"

"I...I want to know my answers more than anything, but what if you get you know, caught? I don't want to risk being turned into a dusk."

Roxas contemplated about that possibility before, and he'd already decided what he wanted to risk. He wanted to risk getting caught and possibly being turned into a dusk and through much thought he would try to defend his friends if it came down to it.

"Okay, then let's go."

Roxas summoned the oval purple abyss and stepped inside, Xion following. Ratonux turned around to face his best friend. He waved, a small smile on his face, "Wish me luck." With that, Ratonux entered the purple abyss, leaving Ausskex alone in The Grey Area.

Castle Oblivion was an immense golden brown building. The triangular tops of it were aqua blue and the doors were twice as big as Roxas and Ratonux put together.

"Wow," Ratonux muttered, stepping back to get a better view. Roxas glanced almost everywhere to make sure no one was around. Xion put her hood over her head, keeping her distance from everyone.

Deep inside, Xion just wished after they left that Roxas would be safe. No matter what happens to them, she wanted him to be okay.

Ratonux looked over to Roxas and they nodded in unison. Roxas walked to the front of the gigantic doors and gave them the biggest pull he could. He stepped back from the doors and saw they didn't open an inch. He continued to pull and pull until he turned to Ratonux who was anime sweat dropping.

"Can you give me a hand here?"

"Have you, uh, tried pushing?" Ratonux pointed the small sign that read 'Push' that was right next to Roxas. Roxas slapped his face in annoyance.

Ratonux walked past Roxas and pushed the doors open. The inside was _completely_ white, not a single thing was a different color. The three of them walked inside, glancing around at how plain the castle was.

"We need to go to the library and computer room for reference." Roxas explained, walking up a stair case that was just up ahead. Ratonux and Xion nodded and followed Roxas into the next room.

The next room was just as white, but slightly different. The only thing that was different was that there was a door to the left of the one that had just come out of was a golden brown. Roxas roamed over to the different door. "This is the library. It's gotta be." Ratonux nodded as Roxas carefully opened the door, making sure not to make too much of a sound.

The next room contained a giant computer, and to the walls beside it were a set of books. Ratonux sprinted to the books on the wall and picked one out. Roxas and Xion made their way to the giant computer. Xion typed in a password and pressed enter, and then the screen read 'Error, access denied'. Ratonux's eyebrows rose as he found the book he was looking for and quickly placed it in his coat.

"How is your search going?" Ratonux asked, eyeing the shimmering computer screen. Roxas bit his lip and tried the password again, and trying something different. "Last attempt until security lockdown." The computer warned.

Roxas and Xion looked at each other in distress. Roxas sighed and stepped back from the computer. "Go ahead, I don't mind." Xion nodded and tried to type in the password she thought it'd be, and pressed enter.

The room was eerily quiet for a few seconds until the ground began shaking. The computer read 'Security Lockdown'. They were instantly surrounded by heartless and in between them was none other than Marluxia.

Marluxia chuckled. "So you've decided to show your face around here again, Xion?" Roxas and Ratonux turned to look at her, astonished. "That's why you were..." Roxas couldn't even finish his sentence.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were hurt by the organization?" Ratonux whispered with a sorrowful expression on his face.

"I am so sorry, Roxas, Ratonux. I didn't want to ruin your chance of coming here..."

"But you didn't have to! Xion..."

Marluxia laughed mockingly and stepped up to Xion, grabbing her by her collar. "Saix _will _hear about this, I assure you." Marluxia opened a purple abyss portal and threw Xion in it along with Roxas and Ratonux before walking in it himself.

Saix was waiting outside the portal where the three had been thrown, and were still currently on the ground. Marluxia walked out of the portal.

"What is the meaning of this?" Saix demanded, referring to the three of them on the floor.

Marluxia scoffed, "They three rodents broke into Castle Oblivion _without _permission." Marluxia emphasized, clearly proving his point of anger.

Saix burned a hole through Xion's eyes for the longest time. After a while he forcefully grabbed Xion's collar and opened another portal.

"Stop!" Roxas screamed, throwing his key blade at Saix. Saix swiftly dodged, "What is it, key blade wielder? Would you like to be a dusk as well?"

"Let. Xion. Go!" Roxas demanded, clenching his teeth of anger. Xemnas came behind Roxas unexpectedly and knocked him out, catching him before he fell.

Saix takes Xion and leaves through the portal. "Xion..."Ratonux whispered, knowing that was the last memory he would ever have of her. Xemnas turns toward Ratonux. "Do not speak of the events that have played here tonight. The other members will be informed shortly."

Ratonux gulped, "What about Roxas? Are you going to kill him, too?"

Xemnas laughed mockingly, not as bad as Marluxia's was though. "I wouldn't consider it a 'kill'. We are nobodies, Ratonux. It should be considered as a 'rid from existence'. But no, Roxas must live. He goes back to his room."

Ratonux nodded and stood up, quickly making his way to his own room. His room was just like the other members (he assumed, anyway) and lay on his bed. He knew starting tomorrow, nothing would ever be the same again.


	4. Awakening

_"You can't be here, Ausskex. You're not supposed to exist." Her bright green eyes shot through his, her piercing gaze shocking him._

_He stepped forward. "What are you talking about? I am supposed to exist!" She shook her head in annoyance. "You can't! If you are, then how is he supposed to?"_

_Ausskex turned his head and saw the boy's face, his looks being strikingly similar to Roxas. He glanced from the boy to the girl and back again. "I...I don't know." He sighed, feeling defeated and unsure of how to answer the girl._

_The girl laughed cold-heartedly. "Really, Sasuke? You're going to just give up that easily?" He raised a brow. "Who is-"_

Ausskex's eyes opened, sweat beading off his forehead. He sat up and glanced around his room, not one sign of the girl. _'What kind of dream was that?'_ He shook his head and left his room.

He was usually the first one awake sometimes, if not Ratonux. He laid out on the couch, the memory of his dream playing over and over in his mind. Who was that girl, and who was Sasuke? But more importantly, why wasn't he supposed to exist? He hoped Ratonux found at least _something_ at Castle Oblivion, if he wasn't already caught.

"Whoa, what the..." A shadow appeared on top of Ausskex, engulfing him with its arms and dragging him off of the couch. His eyes widened and he screamed, struggling to get free. Quickly looking up at the figure, he started to register in his mind who the person might be until he was struck in the chest and lost his breath, going unconscious.

The shadow carried him more carelessly now, holding him from the back of his coat. He raised his hand and created a purple and black transporter, and walked inside.

He appeared in a familiar room known to all of the members at the Castle That Never Was: The Round Room. He threw Ausskex next to Ratonux, both of them knocked out on the white, rock-hard floor.

The figure lifted his hood as Xemnas transported a little ways from Ratonux and Ausskex. "Excellent work, Saix. You shall begin the transformation." Saix nodded and pointed a finger towards Ratonux's palm. A beam emitted from his index finger and zoomed straight into the hand. He struggled slightly and Xemnas quickly held him down. Saix stopped to insert a data chip into Ratonux's hand. The small chip entered his hand and the wound the beam had made closed, leaving a small scar.

Xemnas laughed wickedly and commanded Saix to do the same to Ausskex. The beam was much larger this time, leaving a larger scar than what Ratonux had. Xemnas inserted a different kind of data chip, and it was slightly bigger than Ratonux's. His wound closed and a bright energy emitted from his hand.

Both of their hands slowly turned back to normal. Xemnas turned to Saix, "They shall awaken soon. Now on we have a new plan to follow through," Xemnas began to leave the room, "we will have hearts soon. Look forward to the day, Saix." Xemnas left and Saix looked down to the two heartless boys. Memories of his old feelings and friendships of his missing heart came back, and then disappeared, leaving behind the emptiness in his chest that was full of nothing.

Ratonux opened his eyes to the bright light of the room in his eyes and the feeling in his wrist ached badly. He blinked several times, seeing another room besides his own. He had only been in this room once before, and that day was the very day that he came here. He slowly sat up, glancing around the room for anyone else. _'Why am I here?'_ He thought, looking to Ausskex next to him. His optimistic, able-bodied friend looked utterly exhausted.

Sweat began to build on the blonde's face, and he began to breathe heavily. His left arm grasped his right wrist, crying out in pain. It was the most agonizing pain he had ever felt before. He turned to Ausskex, seeing his best friend had it much worse. His hand had the darkest, _deepest _scar he thought he'd ever seen. It stretched from the tip of his thumb to a few inches from the middle of his right wrist, and dried blood was around it.

Ausskex grieved in pain, curling into a ball in the middle of the floor. Outraged, Ratonux stood up and glanced around quickly, all pain from his wrist forgotten and anger swarming like bees in his cerulean eyes. "Coward! Come out here and show yourself!" Not a sound was heard, and it deeply angered him more. One, his friend was laying on the ground it front of him in agony, and two, because he didn't know why he was hurt and why they were in The Round Room.

A sudden feeling came over him, and his mind seemed to tell him to attack from above. With his power, he formed a swirling blue sphere in his hand, thrusting it up at the guitar playing nobody whom seemed to be watching them. Demyx quickly moved out of the way and immediately noticed Ratonux's strength, landing a few meters away from him.

"Why? Why Ausskex?!" Ratonux's gaze tore a hole through Demyx's. Demyx scratched the back of his head, and then held up his hands in defense. "Hey man, I'm not the guy you're looking for. I was sent here to watch you guys." Ratonux calmed a bit and raised a brow. "What?" Demyx nodded and slowly put down his hands. "Well, yeah...I was ordered to a few hours ago. I mean, I would help Ausskex, but my mission forbids me to." Ratonux's mind swirled in confusion. _'First were in the Round Room, second Ausskex is hurt, and now, of all things, we're being watched?'_

Ratonux grew angry out of confusion and brought his eyes to Demyx's again. "Who the hell ordered you to watch us?"

Demyx laughed in amusement, "Who else would? I think you know the answer to that one." Demyx glanced past Ratonux to Ausskex. "Looks like I'm done for the day." Demyx opened a purple portal and began towards it, but stopped and grinned evilly to Ratonux, "Oh and..._sorry _for the confusion." Demyx laughed and entered the portal, leaving the room eerily quiet. Ratonux turned behind him, seeing his best friend now waking up. He ran over to Ausskex and sat in front of him, shaking his shoulder slightly. "Ausskex...?" His expression was blank, and it seemed as if he was completely oblivious of Ratonux touching him.

It was as if a light clicked inside of him, like an answer was shown to him. Ausskex wasn't just 'staring off into space'. Ratonux lifted his right hand, knowing that's what his friend was staring at. "Why?" was all his blue haired friend could mutter.

"We need to find Saix. I'll be damned if he doesn't answer my questions."

"Xion...Ratonux, what happened to her?"

Ratonux bit his lip, the truth of her death unbearable to put into his own words. He knew Ausskex would often hang out with Roxas and Xion after their missions together were completed. After a while, the three had even started to become close friends. Although Ratonux knew of their close relations, he couldn't quite put the pieces together. He had guessed since Ausskex has a gentle personality and didn't like to get into the leader's matters that it made sense he would stay on the safe side and not go with them to Castle Oblivion.

The idea of a close friend dying without knowing it felt agonizing to Ratonux. If anything, he didn't want Ausskex to feel the pain he did last night. His head flooded with memories of getting caught by Marluxia and being thrown through the usual purple transporter into The Grey Area, and it was just his luck that Saix _had _to be there that night. Then again, Marluxia probably would've tried to look for him anyway.

"...She's in trouble, isn't she?"

Ratonux finally turned around and faced his friend, his saddened, pale expression pulling him away from hurting him anymore and finally saying the truth. "She...she's gone, Ausskex. They," Ratonux took a deep breath, and then exhaled, "they killed her. She's a dusk now."

Eerie silence filled the room. After a few minutes of more silence he knew his friend was terribly hurt, and possibly going to be hurt for a long time. Ratonux turned to face his blue tinted haired friend, but only to see him gone. "Ausskex? Ausskex, where are you?!" He glanced around the room, but couldn't see him, nor did he sense him like he usually did. He never quite understood how he could sense people like that.

He left The Round Room and walked around, thinking about where he should look. First, he had to find Saix and make him pay for what he did. It made no sense to him why he had this scar, and it seemed that all of his answers have to come from the blue haired man.

He couldn't do a thing to help his friend, let alone himself. Loneliness was a formidable thing to deal with, even if he couldn't really feel it and it was just his memories of feeling what he felt. Yet the memories were of a different place, a different _world_—one he still yet had to recover through the piles of his forgotten memories. Even though he didn't remember when he forgot them, or even how he got them. They were just random visions of another life, but the people seemed so strangely familiar.

He'd find them. He'd find the forgotten memories and take him and Ausskex out of this terrible place. Then, he'd know what to do. He was sure of it.

He looked up to recognize his surroundings, and realized he was where he needed to be. He found Saix closest to the window, speaking with Demyx and Xigbar about a mission they had to go on.

"Agrabah? For what?" Demyx lazily asked with a confused expression on his face.

Xigbar turned to face the guitar player, "Were you seriously not listening to a word he said?"

Saix sighed in frustration, and then began to repeat what he had just said. "You're going to Agrabah to defeat a mysterious colossal heartless. Depart as soon as you're ready."

Demyx groaned at the thought of actually fighting, but nodded to him anyway, understanding what he must do. Xigbar followed in front of him, clearly enjoying the idea of a good fight.

Ratonux watched them as they left, and then stared a hole through Saix, and the blue haired nobody just pretended to notice him. "Ratonux, you will be paired with Larxene for todays-,"

The blonde haired, blue streaked nobody cut him off. "I don't think that will be necessary." The blue haired nobody raised a brow, "Excuse me?" Ratonux balled his fists with rage, having the urge to punch him with every ounce of strength he had. "Don't play dumb with me, damn you! Why did you _have _to hurt Xion?! She's my best friend, dammit!" Ratonux continued to vent his anger, "But I don't see even the _slightest _bit of regret on your face!"

Saix let out a mocking laugh, his golden eyes mimicking his expression. "I wouldn't talk to me with _that _kind of attitude, boy. Xion proved to be unacceptable for the job as keyblade wielder."

"What!" Ratonux's eyes began to turn a shade of red, as he felt hidden blood pumping through his veins, mixing with something deep inside of him he'd never felt before, but vaguely remembered.

Saix backed away slightly, taking in to the changes Ratonux was having as he became more and more enraged. The air seemed to tense quickly, and his nails instantly grew longer. He fell onto the ground like an animal, crouched into a stance that was similar to a wolf - or even better, a fox.

The blue haired nobody was unsure of this power; the power he was emitting he had never recognized. He knew this boy came from another world of course, but he wasn't there long enough to realize what sort of powers the ninjas had. Only one question remained in his mind. Was this his _true _power, and if anything did everyone in his world have it?

Ratonux felt his scar pulsing; it seemed to turn an orange-ish color, and his energy quickly disappeared as he began to calm down. His hand seemed to glow even more orange by the second, and next came a blinding a light, one that even Saix had to shield his eyes from.

Once the light had cleared, his felt something strange in his hands. He lifted the object up, and couldn't honestly believe his eyes. "How the hell?" In his hand was an tangerine colored keyblade that was swirled with blue on the hilt with a familiar symbol on it. In the middle of the blade was none other than the organization's symbol, a symbol he'd grown to dread.

Saix mockingly laughed at him. "It seems his plan had worked after all..."

The anger returned quickly to him, and he could feel his blood pulsing to every emotion he truly felt.

"You didn't..."

_Shocked._

His fists began to shake as the realization slowly started to hit him.

_Afraid._

The blue haired nobody laughed his mocking, baneful laugh, just loving the reaction Ratonux was getting.

_Anger._

"You son of a bitch!" His movement was so quick and swift that Saix didn't see the punch coming his way. The blue haired nobody slammed into the wall, an incision made across his forehead. "What?!" Saix fell back to the ground, feeling as weak as ever. _'How! How is he this strong when he is like this, yet when he's completely calm his power could never match up to mine!'_ Saix breathed heavily, his right hand covering the incision on his face that seemed to be more and more agonizing by the second.

Then, out of nowhere, Ratonux's keyblade disappeared, and his energy levels fell dangerously low. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed, remembering how he failed to protect Xion from that monster.

* * *

His eyes hurt as he opened them, but soon adjusted to the lighting of the room. He felt light headed just looking up at the ceiling. _'What the...'_ His limbs hurt badly for some reason and his palm hurt even worse than last time, the large scar giving off an azure color.

His mind was in a haze as he sat up, glancing at his surroundings. It was awfully dim and hard to make out anything as the only thing emitting light was his scar. He hopped off the bed he had been laying on and tried to find a clue of some sort, a door, even a piece of paper would help.

To the front of the room he felt a door handle, and opened it quietly, but failing to do so as the door squeaked loudly upon opening it. The halls were just as dim as the room, but a flickering light instantly caught his eyes. At the end of the hall way laid a small, single candle giving off enough light to follow to it.

He suddenly felt a pulsing sensation from his scar, the same feeling he received not so long ago. A flashback entered his mind of the memory of Ratonux talking to Demyx, and when he asked about Xion.

He knew he didn't have _real _emotions, but how he felt about her made him feel very real. He had random urges to touch her face to feel how soft it is, or to kiss her pale, pink plump lips. He loved to watch her laugh at his jokes, and Roxas and Ratonux would join them soon afterwards, the mood of the room becoming more elated.

All of those memories made him honestly want to shrivel up, yet he couldn't exactly say the reasons why. He didn't know how to put into words how he felt about her, or even the words to say it. As the flashback disappeared, the answer came to him why he felt so miserable.

He never had the chance to tell her how he felt.

The light from his hand grew larger and larger by the second, and the place he was at was instantly familiar. The blinding light slowly vanished, and he couldn't have been more astonished. The anger that entered his mind made him realize just _how _this happened, but he could never say why. The first thing he wanted to find out was _who_ was responsible for this so he knew who to test his keyblade on.

The candle light flickered at the end of the hall, and the energy coming from his hand almost tried to move him to it, and he sprinted past the many random doors until he came upon a dim room. Not a person seemed to be in the room, and he couldn't quite shake off the feeling that there _was_ something in here, and he had no doubt about it.

From the dimness of the light he saw the hilt of his keyblade was completely dark blue with the symbol he vaguely remembered. The nobody symbol shined in the middle of the blade, shaming him of what he truly was.

He sighed as he looked away from the blade, wishing in the end that it wasn't _her _life that was lost, but his own. If he had what it took to protect all of his friends from Xemnas and Saix, he probably wouldn't be here right now. Though because he couldn't, he had to pay for by finding a way out. His keyblade instantly showed the way.

It pointed straight upwards, beaming a cerulean colored light towards the ceiling. Looking up, the way out was easy to see. On the darkened ceiling shown an outline of a key hole, one he knew would help save him and his friends, no matter how far away they could be at the moment.

He backed up a bit and pointed it straight up to the ceiling. The keyhole glimmered golden and filled with a blue-ish gold swirl. The keyhole gleamed in its greatness and slowly disappeared, the keyblade back to normal again. The room was awfully dim again like it was from the start, and he didn't honestly know where to look first. Just then, a door in the darkest corner of the room opened from the outside, and who he saw made his memories begin to awaken.


	5. New World

He lay shivering in the murky, silent room with his knees up to his chest and his fists next to his feet, feeling utterly anguished about what he had done the night before, and he couldn't escape his mind of his failure to protect his friends. Hanging his head low, he imagined the four of them- Roxas, Ratonux, Ausskex, and Xion, and their ecstatic days and memories of being together and how in the beginning he never thought those warm feelings could disappear. With all of his friends gone, how would he remember? His memory seemed to be in a haze.

_But, in the end, the people I cared for deeply couldn't be here forever. Like graceful butterflies ready to ascend, or beautiful birds ready to leave their nest, I had to watch my companions fly away to their brand new lives, regardless how much I missed them._

Ratonux slammed his fists to the wooden floor, his hands growing white with his anger.

_Why couldn't I protect them? Why...why do I feel the way I do?_

He inhaled deeply, and then exhaled loudly, realizing what he longed for the most, what he so desperately craved to see, and to watch in wonder at how the world changed, even if it wasn't an immense change. The whole time he'd been locked in the room, he'd tried to seek out what he wanted to say in words. Raising his right hand towards the ceiling, he spoke quietly to himself, "I have longed to see, to feel, to watch..." He bit his lip, his mouth forming a thin line, "...The light of the outside world."

Deep inside, he'd never felt more hopeless in his life. The wonderful and powerful people he had gotten to know slowly and faintly had become smudged out of his life and memory one by one: Xion had come first, and then Ausskex and worst of all he didn't even _know _if Roxas was okay. He would find it very difficult to forgive himself if Roxas was hurt by Saix, or worse Xemnas. He felt that it was his job to protect his friends from the danger they faced, even if they weren't together physically he could always feel them in his heart. Seeing what his options were, he silently sorted them out in his mind.

_Either I stay in this depressing piece of shit like I was ordered or break out and rescue Roxas, before it's too late._

He stood up and, with determined confidence, knew which option he'd choose any day and decided to make himself a door to leave through. He formed several hand signs and a clone quickly appeared next to him. His clone's right hand and his own left hand came together as the swirling blue energy formed into a huge ball in their hands. When the time was right, he and his clone said in unison, "Rasengan!"

The swirling blue orb collided with the darkened ceiling of old room. He heard it bust through what he thought was wood but was actually metal. Light enlightened the room with happiness, his desire to see the world finally coming to him. He closed his eyes and breathed in the world slowly, taking in the wonderful smell of the outdoors and opening his eyes to reveal the purple and black swirling clouds much farther in the distance to the Castle That Never Was. His clone disappeared and he quickly jumped from the bended metal hole and swiftly ran towards the castle. Who knew what Saix could be planning to do next?

"Hello? Is anybody in here?" The pinkette girl stood in the doorway in the darkest, but farthest side of the room. Ausskex quickly hid himself away from her eye of vision, unsure of whom or even _what _she was-the only people he had ever grown to know were people who didn't have hearts.

Nobodies.

He cringed at the thought.

The girl walked in to the room with a lit candle and shut the door tightly, trying to give others around the message to not enter. She scanned the murky room with a watchful eye, already prepared for any kind of animal or person to pop up out of nowhere just to scare her. But right now she had no time to be scared. Her first priority was to find any suspicious people with a strange symbol upon their clothing, and the biggest clue was if they were carrying a large key shaped blade. She had absolutely no idea why she had to find a person like that, and she even doubted that she would, but it was for her friends. Deep inside, she knew there was a chance Sasuke would try to escape again. Again, and again, and again, and just when she thought he would've changed his mind, he tried to leave.

Should she have given up, or kept on trying, she didn't know. Even if he left again, she could still help Naruto at least.

The sound of her footsteps came closer and closer. What if he did show himself to her, and what if she knew automatically what he was? Sighing loudly, his key blade disappeared and he heard the girl gasp.

"So there _is_ someone in here. Show yourself, coward!"

His eyes widened as he took in her eyes and her face. _'Those piercing emerald eyes are so familiar …is she the girl from my dream?'_

He stepped out of the darkness he had hidden himself into the light her candle gave off for her to see him. Her eyes widened as well, and what she softly whispered made him feel very confused.

"…Sasuke?"

His brows furrowed together in confusion. "Do you…know me from somewhere?"

She walked closer to him, touching his hair lightly. "You look just like him. How can you not be him?"

She eyed his clothing, instantly noticing the strange symbol on him. "Um, how can I not be who?" She looked back up at him and sighed deeply.

"Sasuke Uchiha, the love of my life."

She sighed sadly, looking down to the brown wooden floor. "Oh, I'm sor-"

"Who are you and why do you look so much like him?" She was suddenly in his face, her piercing emerald glare almost making his spine shiver.

"I…I don't know, I can't even tell you where I am, if that says anything."

She gasped in surprise, remembering her task from before. _'If you see anyone with this symbol, Sakura, bring him here right away.'_ She could hear Shikamaru's words now, commanding her to do the mission.

Sakura took his hand quickly. _'I guess it's better to take him while I still can and ask questions later.' _

"Hey, what are you-"

She tightly held his hand and swiftly ran out of the deserted building, dragging him along the crowded streets of Konohagakure. She bit her lip in frustration. _'Dang…anyone with his kind of clothing would stick out like a sore thumb. It's time for Plan B.'_

She pushed him behind her, still having a good grip on his hand, and gave him a 'Don't ask questions' look. He nodded, knowing all of this would be answered soon.

The ninjas in front of the Hokage's mansion gave Ausskex a strange look but accepted him and Sakura inside. Once they were inside she finally let go of his hand.

"Listen, my friends are in danger because their strength is half way gone and they can't even remember what their jutsus were. They," she paused, taking a deep breath, "are looking for another person with the same symbol your wearing, like that one on your shirt."

Ausskex didn't even have to look to know what she was talking about. That very symbol described who he was, and he practically hated the very symbol itself. To him it just _screamed _how he supposedly couldn't love or feel the strength of bonds.

It was humiliating. Why did everywhere he turn someone had to point that out to him?

He sighed in disbelief. He nodded to her, "Who are your friends?"

"I'll go get them, but please wait here, okay? I won't be long."

He watched Sakura go quickly up the long ebony staircase just to the right of him as he listened to the voices up over his head.

"Shikamaru, Naruto! I found someone that wears the same symbol on that necklace."

They both quickly got up and walked over to her. "Whoa, is he here now? Let's go Naruto." The three of them came down the staircase and Shikamaru automatically stopped.

"Uh, Sakura, are you serious? This is Sasuke," He gave an utterly confused look.

"Oh, really? Would Sasuke wear that kind of clothing?"

He knew she was right, and by the looks of it she really was. He had the same facial features as Sasuke did but wore the symbol on the necklace the girl at the hospital had given him.

"So, can you explain to us what this symbol means?" Shikamaru held up the necklace to Ausskex, making it clearly visible for him to see.

He wanted to tell them how awful it was and how they shouldn't even get mixed with the organization, but decided to keep his mouth shut so that won't happen.

"…What do you know about it?"

Shikamaru nodded and put the necklace safely away. "We know these two strange men, whom looked _completely_ out of the ordinary, especially in Konoha, had attacked my friends and from what I saw they literally took their hearts out of them, and if it weren't for me they wouldn't have been alive. I have no idea what they were after or why, but you seem to have a connection to men, from your clothing to how you look exactly like Sasuke. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

Ausskex bit his lip miserably, realizing he, Roxas, Ratonux, and Xion were not the only ones to feel Xemnas and Saix's wrath, if it were them Shikamaru was talking about.

"I might," He lied, "but I can help your friends. I have a good idea with what's wrong with them."

"Oh, I'm sorry to cut in like this, but I meant to ask you this before. What is your name?" Sakura cut in.

"Yeah and how did you get here?" Naruto chimed in with Sakura.

He sighed, giving in to their questions. "My name is Ausskex, and I have no idea how I got here."

Naruto nodded, "His name sounds nothing like Sasuke's," Naruto began, bringing his hands behind his head, "so he might now actually be the one, you know, who would know about jutsus and stuff."

A memory clicked in Shikamaru's head instantly from Naruto's words. "Oh, right. I doubt this, but have you ever done a jutsu before?"

Ausskex gave him a bewildered look. "What is that?"

Shikamaru nodded towards Naruto, signaling to do something. Naruto quickly used his hands to make signs and stopped, keeping his hands together to form the symbol. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A bit of smoke appeared next to Naruto, and out of the quick smoke there stood an exact image of Naruto, a clone of him. Ausskex stood in awe at his skills and intelligence, and immediately wanted to ask how he did that and if Naruto could teach him, but the pinkette had other plans.

"The hand symbols he just did are essential to know in order to do a jutsu, and certain jutsus also require you to do certain things, depending on what they are."

Ausskex nodded, still staring at Naruto's clone. "Will your clone easily aid you in battle?"

Naruto grinned, his hands going behind his head. "Yeah of course, I've used this jutsu for that a billion times."

Ausskex bit his lip, many thoughts racing through his head. 'Maybe if I ask them to teach me, I'll learn more about this world and where I am.'

He turned to the three and tried to look as confident as he could. "Please, Naruto, teach me the ways of the jutsu."

Naruto's face held an astonished expression, and it quickly fell to a grin. "Meet me at the training grounds first thing tomorrow morning."

He met the blue haired man face to face, anger building up with every word he spoke, feeling as if he could explode with anger. He could hear his heart beat with every heavy breath he took, and he seemed to feel warmer and warmer, as if his blood was boiling from what the blue haired man had just told him.

"**You **_**what?"**_ He felt the random breeze blow through his hair, unaware of the red bubbles of power surrounding him.

The amber eyed man smirked, "You heard me, did you not? I said your friend Roxas has been taken to Castle Oblivion for better uses."

Ratonux felt the power flowing through him, and the _thoughts _came so quickly that he had no idea that what he would do next would change his life forever, like black ink on pale white paper.

He grabbed him by the collar and burned a hole through his eyes, not even blinking. "**What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you hurting all of my friends!" **He knew his voice had changed, putting on a more frightening tone.

Saix sneered at his closeness, "They weren't meant to be you're 'friends', Ratonux. We aren't even able to feel emotions."

He punched him squarely in the face. "**I'm tired of your bullshit! Why me? Why Roxas? Why Ausskex?" **He felt a tear fall from both of his eyes.

"**WHY XION?" **He felt his power explode everything around him, causing destruction and chaos in The Grey Area. The steel silver that used to be the roof had been destroyed and from the corner, and golden eyes stared at the scene as it happened, a vicious grin forming at the sight.

As the smoke cleared up, Saix collapsed on the steel, silver flooring. He laid there, cuts and bruises all over his body, blinking up to the sky. Ratonux's body slowly went back to normal, falling down to his knees in desperation. Shimmering tears came from his bloodshot eyes, and he looked up to the blue haired nobody.

"Why?" He managed to choke out.

Saix's amber eyes tore through his cerulean, the realization of what his powers had just done to someone, and it enveloping him deeply.

"Xemnas," He began, coughing harshly, "it was his orders, never mine. If you seek answers, he's your number one source. I must warn you, before I go-"

Saix stopped breathing, and his voice had halted, like someone wanted to put his talking to a stop. A wave of emotions made Ratonux clench his fists in anger. The other amber eyed man, the one who made all of this happen—

It was Xemnas, the leader of the nobodies, supposedly. The one who killed Xion, the one who took Roxas away, and even worse…

Sent Ausskex somewhere really, really far away, and because Saix was gone, and Ratonux knew he didn't have a chance to even lay a finger on Xemnas yet, he could not yet get his answers Just thinking about that made him feel guilty and ashamed that he had to put his friends last.

Wiping the tears off his face, he lifted himself from his knees and gave Xemnas an enraged look.

The leader laughed off his stare as a joke. "What is it that will change that angry expression of yours, hmm?"

Ratonux's eyebrows creased more, wanting to honestly destroy him. After a couple of minutes, Xemnas laughed again.

"Not going to talk? How about I just give you what you want." Xemnas waved his hand in the air and opened another purple portal that was bigger than most Ratonux had ever made, but knew for sure one important thing.

He was being tricked. Being tricked wasn't the best way to safe his friends.

He focused all of his energy to his hand, and a swirl of blue formed instantly. He gripped it tightly and ran so quickly Xemnas hadn't seen it coming.

Ratonux threw the swirl of energy at point blank range at Xemnas, his golden eyes widening at the impact. He flew backwards into the purple portal and with the swirl of blue energy, Ratonux flew in with him.

The blue tinted midnight haired nobody leaned softly against the shuriken stake, hoping the blonde, spiky haired ninja didn't forget him. It had already been two hours, and he was honestly thinking about just leaving.

Where would he go if he did leave? Would he meet up with Naruto on the way back to the Hokage's Mansion, where he stayed just last night? No, he couldn't. He already gave his word that he would meet him here.

Ausskex slowly stood up and sat on top of the stake instead, getting a better view of the forest surrounding him. He quickly noticed something small and furry climb a tree about a few meters away from him up through the branches to the top. He felt curious of what it was, and if the poor creatures home was located up there. The creature would be the only one of that Ausskex had known to know what's like.

It reminded him so much of how he was in a new world that was possibly far, far away from The World That Never Was. Konohagakure even had a slightly different language than his own, as Sakura tried to explain to him what tsuki meant in Japanese.

He held up his hand, a million thoughts racing through his head as he gazed at the deep, dark scar as he traced it from his thumb to the middle of his right arm. He could almost remember feeling the searing pain all over again, and the tears he had gone through when he felt it. He remembered ever so vaguely through the pain Ratonux called his name; he had also asked what happened to Xion.

He felt his heart breaking all over again, and he still couldn't imagine how a tough girl like Xion could die so easily.

A shadow fell over him and he glanced up to see what it was. Naruto stood in front of him, giving him the same optimistic grin as usual.

"So, are we ready to begin?"

Ausskex nodded, a small smile forming on his face. "I'm more than ready."


	6. I'll Always Be There For You

He lay in the warm sand just by the shore, brushing his hands along the rough minerals as he gazed to the shimmering water that seemed to make the sunset look like a giant beach ball. This place was utterly familiar to him, so strangely familiar yet so distant. The soft, fresh air blew through his sun kissed and streaked midnight blue hair, the feeling relaxing him as his mind fell into thought.

Warm waters brushed his feet as it came to the shore, almost as if it were telling him a message. He began to wonder when he had been to this tropical paradise, and how even had even gotten back here to begin with.

Standing up, he realized how fast time was passing. The beautiful sunset from before was now gone, the circular top of it barely showing. It was getting unimaginably cold, and the soft wind had begun to blow stronger. He looked both ways, trying to find anyone who could tell him what was going on.

But there was nothing. There was no one.

He sprinted from the shore and through the sandy area, the vicious wind making it harder for him to see. He noticed many homes that resembled houses, yet they were barely able to hold the winds strength. He knocked loudly on the wooden door, begging for a response.

A little boy with chestnut, wild brown hair and azure eyes answered the door shortly, timid to see someone he didn't know. He didn't speak a word, and his father came up behind him.

"Who are you?" The older man asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

He lowered his head and sighed, unsure of everything that had happened since he had gotten here. He raised his eyes to meet his. "My name is Ratonux, and to be honest I'm looking for a place to stay. I'm not sure why I'm here or even how I got here, but I feel that it's much too dangerous to stay outside."

The older man nodded, "Yes, of course. My wife has just made dinner and I'd be happy to welcome you, Ratonux. My name is Daichi, and this," He began, placing his hands on the little chestnut haired boy's shoulders, "is my son, Sora."

The boy smiled and stretched his hand out to Ratonux, "It's nice to meet you! We should play at the beach together some time with my friends."

Daichi laughed and ruffled his son's hair. "We'll see. Let's go, she's waiting on us."

At that exact moment, Sora's stomach rumbled loudly and he rubbed it gently. The two laughed together at the noise, "Yeah, I'm starving."

The home was decorated with sea animal decorations and sea shells and many pictures of friends and family. He saw that Sora had another friend on the island; a picture hung on the beach wallpaper wall of him and a silver haired blue eyed boy making faces. The bottom of the picture read: I'll always be there for you.

Next to the picture frame laid a few large sea shells that seemed to radiant vivid light, and it was so strong it felt as if it could give Ratonux a heart of his own.

He knew that wasn't possible. It could never come true.

The kitchen was very warm, and delicious looking sea food lay on the wide table. A woman with luscious, long ruby hair and dark brown eyes that reminded Ratonux of a candy he'd seen someone eat on one of his missions with Ausskex. He tried to remember what it was, but he stopped once he realized she noticed him staring. The woman smiled welcomingly to him, and then turned to her husband.

"Who is he, dear?"

"He said he's lost, and he has no other place to stay. His name's Ratonux."

The Daichi's wife sat next to Sora and her husband, nodding to Daichi. "We don't get very many visitors here on this island, you know. It's usually the same people every day. We're very happy to have you."

Ratonux's face turned a pink color, having never been welcomed for his presence. "Ah, thank you…"

The rest of the dinner was spent talking about the island and how they've been there since they were children. Sora began to tell Ratonux and his parents about the many adventures he and his friend, Riku, had that day before the storm came.

Ratonux remembered the many adventures he and Ausskex had been on, and just thinking about how much he missed all of his friends brought a crystal tear to his eye, slowly sliding off his pale cheek to the ebony table he was eating at, splashing lightly upon impact. Sora and his parents were luckily chatting away and hadn't noticed.

He sighed sadly, wishing he could remember how he had gotten here. Sora's face seemed to radiant the same light as his own sea shells did, if more than. He was an optimistic child and seemed to love his parents very much, though something about the boy troubled Ratonux. He looked so much like…like…

It was as if all of the puzzle pieces overtime had come together, finally forming the picture he had been trying to remember. The chestnut haired azure eyed Sora looked exactly like Roxas, his blonde best friend.

The spiky haired blonde's movements were fairly quick, and it became increasingly hard for Ausskex to keep up with him. He attempted to block the punches Naruto was throwing at him, but failed once again, flying backwards onto the ground.

Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion. "I guess this might take a little longer than I thought…"

Ausskex sprung back to his feet and smiled to his trainer. "I'm not done yet."

Naruto laughed, remembering his old friend who used to say the same thing. "Here, I'll let you have the first hit. Show me what you can do."

Ausskex nodded, and the blue scar on his arm began to glow. He stretched his scarred arm out next to him as a swirling sphere began to form, almost sounding like thousands of birds. It grew bigger and bigger, almost the size of his own head. He charged at Naruto with full speed, missing and hitting his shoulder at point blank.

Naruto was ultimately surprised that he even knew how to do this, and the only person he knew that could was Kakashi and Sasuke. Ausskex looked like Sasuke, almost acted like him, except for his optimistic mood, and knew the jutsus Sasuke knows. It clicked in Naruto's head immediately.

The necklace Shikamaru found, the symbol it bared on that chain—that same symbol was glowing on his cheek, just right under his left eye. The letters in Ausskex's name even came from Sasuke's. The only confusing question was…

Will he ever tell them what he is, how he got here, and what his purpose is? Does Sasuke's lost memory of how to do jutsu and Ausskex's jutsu's he somehow already knew how to do have a connection?

The blonde flew into the middle of a tree, his shoulder severely injured. The symbol on Ausskex's forehead disappeared, and he lost consciousness, slowly coming to the darkest of all places: his own mind.

Naruto gazed up to the clouds above, hoping to find a better answer in the midst of the sky. White puffs came together quickly and the sky became darker every second that passed. The injured blonde turned to the unconscious Sasuke look-a-like, watching him having trouble breathing and sweating in his unconsciousness. Slowly he calmed down, almost literally falling asleep.

Finally, the clouds sounded as if they exploded into rain, and fog began to grow heavy around them. Naruto tried to see Ausskex through the rain, but had no luck. He was too injured to move and wished he could've stopped Ausskex before it was too late.

'_This is my fault,' _He thought, feeling shimmering drops hit his face,_ 'some mentor I am. I could never help him like Pervy-Sage helped me.'_

He shook his head in disbelief, _'What am I saying? I can take responsibility for this. Ausskex may be exactly like Sasuke, but they are _definitely_ not the same. Right now, he needs me more than I need him.'_

Naruto crawled through the rain to find Ausskex, his shoulder aching with every movement he made. The ground felt shivering and plain, yet empty and smooth. The air lingered Naruto's blood, as he felt everywhere he could to try to find his student. He finally found him, quickly carried him on his back, and ran through the never ending endless rain to find safety.

He finally came to stop, finally in the village. He recognized where he was and noticed all of the shops were closed early. Naruto knew from eating at Ichiraku Ramen's every day that that was not a good sign; he knew something bad had happened.

An explosion was heard in the distance, and hundreds of screams were heard as villagers came running from that direction. He noticed on the opposite side of the village the tall building he was looking for. "There you are!" Naruto shouted thankfully.

The rain started to calm some as he entered Konoha Hospital, coming up to the desk. The nurses noticed him quickly. "Please, you have to help my friend. He needs more care than I do."

The emerald haired woman covered her mouth in shock, "But your wound…!"

"Don't mind me. I have to go help the village. There was an explosion coming west of here, I'll be fine."

She gave him a concerned look, and then finally nodded in understanding. "Alright, but be safe."

"I won't just be safe. I'll keep the village safe. Believe it!"

His usual catch phrase made the nurse smile, giving her hope that the fourth's son would protect the village like his father did.

The blonde left the hospital and headed straight towards the opposite of the hospital, only to see someone he knew he just didn't know.

The destructive man was blonde as well, half of it put up on his head and long bangs that covered his left eye. His blue eyes read blood on them, and his hands had mouths. _That_ was the part that scared him the most.

He laughed snickered as the villagers tried to run from his wrath, but his bombs came so easily to him that almost got every innocent man, woman and child as they tried to run from his destruction.

Naruto was blown away at the explosion, but caught himself quickly atop a nearby roof top. He watched in horror as the smoke cleared, leaving the undeserved dead villagers under the ruble.

He felt that familiar chakra building up inside of him again, that same red-orange power that seemed to help him when there really was immediate danger. It boiled inside him like anger, ready to lash out at his disposal.

He noticed the destructive man had some kind of mechanical device over his right eye, and his left eye was a light blue. He wondered how it functioned, and what its purpose was. The man spotted Naruto quickly, lashing out another one of his explosive bombs at him.

He dodged it quickly, the building that was supporting him seconds ago now in pieces.

He felt the red orange chakra finally greet him with power, it`s aura wrapping round his entire body. He burned a hole through the blonde man`s eyes, waiting for him to make the first move.

"So you're the fox we`ve been looking for, hmmm?" The man evilly, taking a step closer to him. Naruto clenched his teeth, wanting to honestly destroy him, or at least keep him out of the village for good.

"But, of course, it is not I whom is looking for you," He began, loving Naruto's reaction, "I am looking for two jinchuriki's. One of them is in this town, yeah."

"**Well whoever it is, you're not getting to them!**" Naruto's voice changed with his body, springing up and attacking the blonde man in the blink of an eye.

Having no time to dodge, Naruto clawed the man's chest, leaving a gash extending from his shoulder to his waist. The man stumbled back twice, and then coughed out blood.

"You're a lot stronger than I thought, yeah."

The blonde man snickered, his hands forming many different hand signs quickly. A clay like bird spit out of his left hand, growing larger as it hit the ground. He jumped on the bird and it soared through the air, Naruto trying in vain to catch him.

"Who are you?" Naruto shouted to him, tiredly running from roof top to roof top.

The blonde man snickered, his long blonde hair covering his 'eye device' as he turned to answer him. "It's Deidara. Don't forget it, yeah."

With that, Deidara left Naruto's eye sight, the taste of defeat running through his veins.

The next morning, Ratonux woke from the sound of seagulls sitting upon the guest room window sill, which was something he was definitely not used to. He was used to waking to the sound of…well, nothing.

He stretched out of bed and gazed out to the wonders of the beautiful ocean he now lived by. When the seagulls had token flight once more, he opened the windows as wide as he could; staring in awe at the gorgeous trees he had never seen before in his life. He was too distracted yesterday to really notice.

He sat upon the sill, loving the warm and comfort of the soft wind the morning had to bring. The air seemed to be fresher here than at The World That Never Was; something here seemed radiant, and everything was _beautiful_.

A soft noise came from inside the house, and the same younger chestnut haired boy that held a high resemblance to Roxas gave him a silly grin, walking up to the window sill next to him.

"This place is amazing, isn't it? Nobody could ever resist an island like this."

Ratonux turned to the younger boy with curiosity. "Have you ever been off this island?"

Sora stared out to the great sea with a slight twinge of grief in his expression. "No, but one day I will. Riku and I, and maybe someone else, and we can journey all of the other worlds out there. Have you ever thought of the universe as a giant pool of stars?"

Ratonux wasn't sure how to answer his question, but he knew how badly he had wanted to leave The World That Never Was.

"Well, sort of. I've always wondered if there was a world ten times better than the one I come from, and with all of the other planets and worlds out there, there's no denying that there is, right?"

Sora shook his head in agreement. "Of course there is. Maybe you can come with me and Riku when we go, that is, if you'll still be here…"

Sora sighed, disappointed. "Don't worry, Sora. No matter what happens, we can always be together. We may be far apart, but you'll always be my friend. Believe it!" Ratonux had no idea where that catch phrase had come from, but it felt right to him anyway.

His words seemed to brighten Sora's day, a small smile forming on his face. "Thanks, Ratonux."

The two jumped slightly in surprise, hearing Sora's mother from down stairs. "Sora, Daichi, Ratonux! Breakfast is ready!"

Sora and Ratonux made their way down to the family's kitchen, chowing down on the eggs and bacon she had made for all of them. Afterwards, Sora and Ratonux stepped outside to the beach.

The soft, gentle wind blew through his hair again, calming his features. He watched how the coconut trees would gently sway in the comfortable breeze. Sora's feet stopped into the water, watching the sun set into the impossibly blue sky.

Ratonux then wondered where all of his friends were. He seemed so much calmer here than he did at The World That Never Was; he wished he could bring Ausskex, Roxas, and Xion here. Even though it was still hard to face the reality of it, Sora had taught him that it was never bad to wish for anything that could be possible.

Like Xion coming back, or hearing that Roxas was okay. Even more so Ausskex was somewhere safe.

He would find them. He had ever bit of faith that after he figured everything out, they would all find their way to each other again.

He felt the waves wrap around his ankles, almost begging for him to jump in. It was beginning to get hotter outside, and Sora was already swimming, waiting for his best friend Riku to come.

Ratonux dived into the shimmering sea, the cool waters reassuring him that he could save his friends.

"Who is he, Sora?"

Sora stood out of the water and introduced him. "This is Ratonux. He's lost and he has nowhere else to go, so he's staying with me."

Riku glanced at Ratonux, and nodded to him with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Riku. Maybe I'll see you around some time." With that, Riku turned around and headed back towards his house.

"W-wait! Riku, aren't you going to play with me?"

Riku turned back around, "Not today, sorry. My dad wants me to go fishing with him behind our house again."

Sora sighed, and then turned back to Ratonux. "I'm sorry about him, he likes to use that excuse a lot when he meets new people." The two laughed together at that, and the sun finally set over the island, out shining every beautiful thing nature had created.

"Say, what island are we on exactly?"

"These are the Destiny Islands," Sora pointed to his right, "you see the other bigger island over there? That's where all of the shops and the school are. My parents prefer to home school me though."

Ratonux nodded, seeing the civilized side of the islands beauty. It seemed much livelier over there than is it was here, and cars were moving quickly through the streets, trying to get home to see their families.

He wasn't sure what exactly made this place so special to him, but he seemed to be having memories of all his friends. There was Roxas, because of Sora's resemblance to him. Xion, because she would always be with him, and Ausskex, because they all would hang out together. He didn't know how much longer he would be on this island, but he hoped he could stay long enough to see Sora have his dreams come true.


	7. Reality

"Naruto, are you alright? You don't look so-"

"I'm fine!"

The pinkette kunoichi grabbed his arm and forced him to look her in the eye. "Don't lie to me, Naruto! This is about Ausskex, isn't it?"

The blonde shifted his feet, uncomfortable with the way she looked at him. He sighed deeply, knowing what would happen to him if he didn't answer. "Yeah. So what, though? I have my reasons to be upset."

He tried to release her hold on him, but she held a strong grip on his arm. "What reasons?" She asked, her face holding a softer expression.

The snow white hall way grew silent, not a single person besides them in the hall. "I've always wanted to be as good as a mentor as Pervy Sage. Now that _that_ happened," He began, referring to Ausskex, "I see that will never happen."

The pinkette sighed, looking up into his sky blue eyes. "This isn't like you, Naruto. You always think you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Maybe Ausskex just needs more time."

"Well, what if that Deidara guy shows up again and kidnaps that innocent girl he's looking for?"

"What if you find him before he does? What if you save her and defeat him?" Sakura countered, releasing her grip on him.

"Well…alright, you got me there. We just need to come up with a plan to attack him all ways possible, but not at the same time."

Sakura smiled and nodded, "Welcome back, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, "I have to go talk to Ausskex about what happened, though. I'm not sure if he remembers anything."

"That would probably be a good idea. If he does, who knows how badly he could be taking it."

Naruto nodded, "See you later, Sakura. Take it easy." He waved, turning and walking the other way.

"I should be saying that to you, Naruto." She commented, eyeing his shoulder wound that had healed overnight. The spiky haired blonde knocked on the Sasuke look a like's door. He heard a small voice saying 'Come in' and entered the room quietly.

Naruto entered the room, sitting in a wooden chair that was kept by the bed from the last person that had been in there. Ausskex sat in his bed against the head board, eyeing Naruto curiously. "Naruto-sensei, how did I get here?"

Naruto grimaced, not wanting to tell him. "I took you here."

He raised a brow, "Why?"

Naruto sighed, looking up into Ausskex's onyx eyes, "You were unconscious from the training, remember? Do you not remember what happened?"

Ausskex sat in thought, remembering hardly anything. "The only thing I remember is when you let me have the first hit. It was like the scar on my hand activated itself and did everything for me. I can't remember anything after that."

Naruto eyes widened, taking it everything Ausskex had just told him_. 'Incredible…he can do the same jutsu as Sasuke, yet he doesn't know how to control his power. If I were to keep training with him, maybe he would be able to control it better.'_

"Ausskex, are you hurt?"

He shook his head, "No. That's why I'm wondering why I'm in a hospital."

Naruto anime sweat dropped, "Hahah, yeah I figured that. You have a strange, yet amazing power that I have never seen before. If you train yourself to control that power, you could be a very strong shinobi."

Ausskex seemed surprised, "Really? Can you train me again, Naruto-sensei?" He bit his lip, waiting for an answer.

Naruto grinned, "That was the plan."

Ausskex laughed, relief glowing into his face. He knew his sensei wouldn't let him down, let alone his own friends. At that moment, a question flew into his mind, along with many other questions flooding in after the first one. He turned to his optimistic, but troubled sensei. "Naruto-sensei, may I ask you a question?"

Naruto smiled to the young Sasuke look-a-like, "Sure, you can ask me anything."

Ausskex's eyes trailed to the floor, a bit embarrassed, "When you get separated from your friends, is it possible to find them again? Despite the great distance that could be holding you back?"

Naruto pondered that question, looking out the window as his own thoughts came in. He thought about all of the friends he had lost, and how some of them were in a different world than the one they were in. Some of his past experiences couldn't be helped, and some lives were lost. He bowed his head, almost sighing in defeat.

"Yeah, of course. I mean, yeah, I may be just like any other villager here who's lost someone, but that doesn't mean it didn't affect me."

Ausskex nodded, "Yeah, I know that feeling. It's as if I know where to look for them, but I don't know exactly where they're at."

Naruto raised a brow to his student, "Where else would they be? Do you remember?"

The Sasuke look-a-like sighed, "Well, yes, I remember, but at the same time I don't. When I follow my heart and my memories, I can see it—that pale, ivory room and the silvery hallways, and the sixteen of us, and then-"

Ausskex stopped, not wanting to continue that sentence. He remembered the silver haired, olive tanned man with the darkest amber eyes he had ever seen. Even his partner, Saix, seemed just as dark and malevolent. Then that innocent, small child came back into his memory, from his dream- the very same dream Sakura had been in. He remembered her piercing emerald eyes that could penetrate the darkness.

The young boy, he remembered Sakura calling him Sora. He wondered if she knew she was in his dreams, even though the way they met seemed too coincidental. The boy's eyes didn't have a single trace of darkness. He was purely filled with light and happiness.

'_Just like everyone in the world should be.'_ He thought, staring out into the window.

"Um, Ausskex? Are you alright? You didn't finish your sentence, you just kind of zoned out in between." Naruto commented, waving his hand in front of Ausskex's face.

Ausskex blushed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry about that, I was just lost in thought. I hope you're right, though. I really want to see my friends again."

"You will, I promise. Now let's get back to training!" Naruto shouted, thrusting his fist into the air.

Ausskex laughed, "Sounds like a good plan."

* * *

He jumped from the hospital window, trailing the house roofs quickly. To others, they couldn't even tell who it was. He scaled through the darkness, trying to avoid attention as much as possible. He turned into an alley, passing street thugs.

One of the thugs, who was much taller than the other one, grabbed his shoulder, attempting to stop him and take his money. Before the thug could speak, he was kicked in the mouth, and sent flying out of the alley into the streets. He turned towards the second thug, whom was cowering backwards. His blood red eyes pierced his light brown. He grabbed his neck, whispering harshly into his ear, "If you don't want to end up like your friend over there, then I suggest you leave. _Before_ I kill you."

He released his grip, the coward thug running as fast as he could into the opposite direction. He heard many voices coming from where he kicked the taller thug, and ran into the darkness again, unseen by anyone.

Stopping by a vacant lake, he stared out into the distance, thinking about what he had done. Five stakes stood in the water, each having targets on them. He jumped into the air, flipping and throwing two kunai into the stakes, and landing on his hands, and jumping into the air again. Another kunai hit the stake in between the first two, the last two kunai hitting the other two stakes perfectly.

He landed on feet, remembering when the murderous man had shown him that technique long ago, far back to when he was a child. Brushing off the memory quickly, he walked into the water, taking the kunai back out of the stakes. He felt a familiar presence coming towards him, but it wasn't Anbu or Naruto, or anyone he had seen recently. He didn't know how he could, but he smelt her scent. The very same scent she had always had since they had met. He never wanted to tell her, since he was shy when it came to girls. To be honest, he didn't know if he was just shy.

Was his past holding him back from what's in front of him?

He shook his head, not bothering to turn around. Sasuke wanted revenge, and that's all that mattered to him. A memory of the pinkette enclosed into his mind, and he remembered before he tried to leave Konoha how close he and his friends were getting before Itachi came back. He sighed, grabbing the third kunai and yanking it out, sticking it into his kunai pouch profusely.

He felt her coming closer, too close for her own good. He didn't know where these feeling for her were coming from, but he had to stop them _now_. Before she comes too close to him, and she ends up getting caught up in his own affairs. He knew how badly it would hurt her to see how strongly he felt about his revenge.

Yanking the fourth kunai out, he flung it to where the energy was coming from, and it was the very same person he expected. The kunai barely missed her face by inches, as she hid behind a tree in the distance, shocked by his actions.

"S-Sasuke?" She shouted, her hands shaking as she gripped bark on the tree.

The air he breathed caught into his throat as he stared at her face, realizing just exactly how bad that had hurt her. It wouldn't have hurt her as bad if she were to know how badly he wanted revenge. Lost in his thoughts, he watched her speed walk up to him and punch him in the face, and he didn't even try to stop her. He fell to the ground, and then stood up, gazing into her eyes with fear. Not the fear of getting punched again; the fear of losing another person whom is close to you, and the worst of the thought itself.

She cried.

She cried heavenly, crystal tears that seemed like an endless ocean, sparkling eternally from under the sun. He felt the pain slice his heart in two, not having the strength the block out everything and pretend to not care anymore. He realized how much he _didn't _want revenge.

"All I ever wanted was for everything to be back to the way it was!" He shouted, punching the ground over and over, regretting each past mistake he had made, including the one he had just made.

He felt a warm body hug his, her delicious scent engulfing his nostrils completely. She hugged him hard; wanting to let him know it was okay. The worst part about that was, it wouldn't be okay. He could never see his loving family again, and all because of one single person.

It became so hard to believe over the years that it was sickening, and it felt as if all of these years have been a dream, as if he had been in a coma for so long. If he really were in a coma, he would be grateful that they hadn't let him go. He wanted to believe it so much that when he was a child, and he'd pinch himself over and over, just wanting to get out of the hell he was in. But nothing worked.

It was all _real_.

* * *

The white haired boy held a seashell out to his best friend, "Here, Sora, you tell me what kind this one is."

Sora examined the seashell, eyeing every single interesting space it had. It was pretty small, despite its gorgeous amethyst, but he had seen very many sea shells, but none quite like this one.

"Wow, I've never seen this one before. Maybe Ratonux would know." Holding the seashell tightly, he ran back inside his large wooden house and sprinted upstairs to the guest room, just where Ratonux would be. Except, this time, he wasn't.

Sora knocked on the door twice, hoping to get a quick answer. "Ratonux?" He knocked even louder, waiting for a response. But he heard nothing. He heard no one.

He swung open the door and came inside, and realized it looked as if he weren't even there at all. The guest bed was untouched, the carpet looked spotless, yet the clothes he borrowed were gone. Sora searched the room, looking under the bed and in the closet. After a while of searching, he remembered something Ratonux liked to do when he was bored. The innocent boy opened the windows gently, the soft breeze opening them up to its extent.

Seeing he wasn't there, he jumped upon the window sill and searched for him on the ground. Riku, seashells, his father and mother, and sand were only there. The warm breeze seemed to caress his face as he turned around, and tried to climb to the roof, hoping to see him up there.

Reaching the top, he found him. Ratonux lay atop of the roof, sleeping softly. His spiky blonde and blue streaked hair blew gently in the wind, along with his gentle breaths that seemed to come naturally. Sora shook him a bit, wanting to wake him. "Ratonux! Hey, Ratonux!" Sora shouted, shaking the nobody's shoulders.

Ratonux stirred, and sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. He turned to the young, energetic boy with tired eyes. "What's wrong, Sora? Did something happen?"

The young boy smiled, "Yeah! I found this seashell, see?" He held out the gorgeous amethyst seashell, eyeing every possible unique place it had. Ratonux gently took it from him and eyed it carefully. "Do you know what kind it is? I've never seen it around here before," He admitted, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Wow, I've never seen this kind of seashell before, either," Ratonux began, turning to Sora, "Why don't you give it your own name, Sora?"

Sora smiled with joy, "That's a great idea! Let's see, let me think…" He placed his finger on his chin, contemplating on a name. "Oh, I know! How about I put our names together and name it that way?"

Ratonux nodded in approval, "Okay, what name did you have in mind?"

"Hmm…what about Roxas?"

Ratonux's world froze, and it seemed every bird, breath that was token, and breeze that flew by went slower and slower. He felt his stomach twist, Sora's words becoming utterly uncomfortable to him. "W-what did you just say?" He barely choked out the question.

Sora's expression turned surprised, "Wow, wow, did I say something wrong? You look really sick, are you alright, Ratonux?" He stared at his expression, biting his lip, hoping he didn't do anything wrong.

The nobody sighed, hoping what he said was just a coincidence. "Sora, I…have a friend named Roxas."

Sora smiled, "Oh, really? I do too, but I can't really remember him. It was a long time ago. I mean, at least I _think_ his name was Roxas, I could be wrong." Sora thought aloud, tapping his finger on his chin again.

"You look so much like Roxas, you know that?"

Sora seemed shocked, "Really? Do you think he could be my brother or something?"

"More like your nobody..." Ratonux whispered quietly for Sora not to hear.

Sora cocked his head to the side in confusion, "Did you say something?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I didn't. Anyway, you should hold onto that seashell, Sora. It's your good luck charm, okay?" Ratonux smiled, moving Sora's small hands onto the seashell. The young boy held it tightly, nodding to the teenager whom he recognized as his best friend. "I promise."

"Good. Now let's see if your mom has dinner done, I'm starving." The two left the roof and headed to Sora's kitchen for a good meal.

* * *

The cold wind howled viciously in the night, and thunder roared loudly, shaking the house a bit. Sora tried his hardest to ignore the scary sounds, but after a while he couldn't handle it anymore. He knew his parents sincerely did not want to be disturbed, so he took his lucky seashell and teddy bear and headed for the one person's room whom had a big enough bed for them to share, and he wouldn't mind him at all.

He opened Ratonux's door softly, seeing the lightning strike through his window. He jumped and surprised and almost shrieked, covering his mouth before he could wake Ratonux. Closing the door quietly, he tip toed over to the side of his bed.

Deciding not to wake him up again, he slide himself into the bed and fell asleep, thinking about the wonderful things he and Riku and Ratonux would do together the next day.

Cries and screams erupted into the night, and a large creature camouflaged with it. He roared into the night, destroying buildings on the busiest side of the Destiny Islands. Ratonux sprung up out of bed, sweating and panting. "What was that?" He shouted, jumping out of bed and opening the window. He watched in horror as the giant, black creature attacked the islanders.

He realized what Sora had said wasn't a coincidence. That creature wasn't just a monster; it was much more than that. It was a _heartless_. He turned around, feeling a familiar presence nearby. Sora lay in bed, sound asleep, despite what Ratonux had just heard. He anime sweat dropped, "Are you serious?"

Turning back to the creature, he knew what had to be done. He turned back to Sora, biting his lip, "Take care, Sora." With that, he jumped off the window and swiftly ran past the tropical trees with their unique fruit, the many hills and boats, and crossed over the giant brown and golden bridge that connected the two islands.

Closing his eyes, he focused solely on the scar on his arm, the bright orange glow that it almost always admitted. He thought about the people of the island, and Sora and his family, and how much he wanted to save them. It began to glow bright orange, moving it a snake until it reached his palm. It radiated energy, and then it appeared.

His keyblade, orange and blue from top to bottom, with the hidden leaf sign on one side and the nobody symbol on the other. He wished so badly to erase the nobody symbol and to replace it with another hidden leaf. He hoped Sora wouldn't ask, that is, if he himself would be around after this fight.

Ratonux ran like lightning through the city, passing broken buildings and homes and running islanders. The nobody was honestly gigantic, looking about 25 feet tall, towering above the city. Ratonux jumped from building to building, hoping to get as high as the nobody. He ran up the biggest skyscraper, reaching the top in a matter of seconds.

Coming to the top, he swung his keyblade straight at the black nobody, sending him stumbling backwards. It looked at Ratonux, attempting to hit him with his hand. He swift fully moved out of his way, the building turning into rubble. He landed on another building, and then began looking for a weak point.

He noticed a huge gash in the nobody symbol it held on its head, almost as if someone had tried hitting it there before. Seeing what he needed to do, he jumped from the building and landed on its head, thrashing the keyblade into the gash.

The nobody screamed in pain, falling over the city. Islanders had already evacuated to another island not far from them. Ratonux jumped backwards off of the nobody, staying out of its reach. The onyx giant slowly faded like ribbon blowing away into the sky, the only thing left behind being a piece of that ribbon, and a note.

He walked over to the note, pressing his fingertips against it, wanting to tell himself that a nobody could leave behind something like this. The only thing was, he couldn't.

His friends, Sora, and Roxas…

They had once, a long time ago, had taught him how to believe, back when he and Ausskex were newbies. After losing that, he met Sora, and slowly regained it again. Now that he was facing the dilemma again, he didn't know if he could honestly face it alone. He imagined all of his friends, all of their will power and confidence, and imagined Xion's faith, the very faith she held onto until the very end.

Taking a deep breath, he untied the ribbon holding the note together, and then opened it carefully. The hand writing seemed strange; something he had never seen before. He instantly knew this note wasn't from Saix or Xemnas, but from a completely different person. The dark purple note read:

_Please, come save me! If you, young keyblade master, have defeated this nobody, I ask you do me a favor. I am not of your kind, and I mean no trouble. Come find me in Agrabah._

_-Ane _

He read the note again and again, pondering if he should really do this. He did need a new adventure, and a new challenge would be nice for him. He nodded to himself, sticking the note into his pocket. Suddenly, everyone on the other island cheered loudly to his victory, congratulating him. Ratonux jumped onto the gigantic skyscraper again, waving to the villagers as they were coming back.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a keyhole outlined in gold, shining out from the starry sky. His keyblade picked itself up and pointed straight to the keyhole, an orange beam striking it. It glowed orange, and then slowly faded away.

Ratonux opened a purple and black portal, his keyblade disappearing, "Agrabah, here I come."

He stepped inside the portal, leaving Sora and everyone of Destiny Islands behind. From afar, Sora sat upon the guest room's window sill, watching as he left. "Goodbye, Ratonux. I hope I get to see you again." He wished to the smallest star in the sky, hoping one day he wouldn't have to tell him goodbye. The relaxing wind of Destiny Islands whipped up once again, the caressing of the soft breeze touching all of the islanders again.


	8. One of Us

Puffed clouds tumbled against each other in ripples of cotton across the bleeding red sky just as the sun had set in the distance. The blonde nobody's hair was a darker shade of blonde in the dim light and bright blue eyes had remained unchanged from the lighting. The coarse sand seemed to crunch underneath his shoes, and he vigilantly watched and carefully waited for anyone who might pass him by. A soft breeze caressed his cheeks and faintly brushed through his spiky blue-blonde hair, eyes darting from one building to another and another.

A sudden, alert voice came to his line of hearing; footsteps were coming his way. The blonde quickly hid atop of a building.

"Are you alright?" The voice held a concern that meant more than just helping a stranger, but to that of a friend in need. A man with shoulder length shaggy black hair and tan skin ran barefoot over to what appeared to be a young girl.

She was a pretty girl, having waist length mahogany hair that seemed to gleam in what was left of the sunlight. She was fair skinned, despite the hot climate of the desert. She wore clothing that fit to that of a desert as well, but something just didn't click with him.

Ratonux's eyebrows furrowed together in frustration, and he quickly took out the note he received in Destiny Islands. His eyes concentrated on every word until he came to the mysterious name.

'_Ane…'_ He wondered silently if the young girl collapsed on the ground below him could be whom he was looking for, but quickly brushed it off and continued to watch the shaggy haired man carry the girl to a safer place.

At a distance Ratonux followed the girl and the shaggy haired man. It seemed as if hours had passed until they reached a palace. It was huge; he never thought such a place existed. The shaggy haired man stopped in front of the palace as a feminine voice sounded throughout the entire area. Another women whom looked to be the princess of the palace, came up to the shaggy haired man, seeming distressed about the unconscious girl in his arms.

"Aladdin! What's going on?"

"I found this girl unconscious in the middle of the desert. Do you think we can help her, Jasmine?"

The princess named Jasmine took a closer look at the girl, "She seems really pale. I'm sure the palace's doctor would know what to do."

"Right. Let's go."

The two left into the palace. Ratonux, whom was crouched high on a building nearby, finally relaxed and sat up, putting all of what he heard together. _'So, that guy with the shaggy balck hair is Aladdin. There's a princess here named Jasmine, and they both are tanned from living here in the desert. It doesn't explain how that girl got here, though. Ugh.'_

Ratonux sighed, mentally trying to figure out how she could have gotten to this world. Sure, there's so much about every world that he has yet to understand, but somehow, it feels as if there is so much about him that he has to figure out, too.

The worst of about all of that is he doesn't even know where he came from. From before he met Xemnas at that beach. From before he discovered Ausskex sitting next to him. How had they even appeared there anyway? It was all so confusing. There was still so much he wanted to know.

'_That's why I have to get out of here. I have to finish this; I have to find and save Ausskex and Roxas, and then deal with Xemnas.'_

So the question was, how would he get into the palace? He had to track that girl somehow. Getting to his feet, Ratonux noticed it was getting darker outside, and swiftly made his way to a unique shaped window that belonged to the palace. Lucky for him, it seemed to be a storage room.

Ratonux quietly leaped down for the window sill and looked around. Everything was basically covered in dust and the room had a humid feeling to it. He silently guessed that this was a room from one of the higher floors. As he walked around he noticed an old woven ladder attached to the wood of the floor. Quietly going down the ladder he heard very distant voices that seemed to be coming closer by the second. It was at that moment he realized where he was.

The castle's infirmary, where they where taking the girl to.

He quickly climbed back up the ladder and hid behind a few boxes by the window. He heard the door open and the voices came clearer to him now. From the distance he peeked past a wooden box and watched as Aladdin, the princess Jasmine, and a doctor walked in.

Ratonux froze. Where in the world was that girl?

He heard one of them stop in their tracks. Then a booming loud voice afterwards. "What?! Where did she go?"

A strange looking bird flew in from the window, not even noticing Ratonux, seeming worried and out of breath. "Aladdin! It's terrible, just terrible!"

"Iago! What're you doing here?"

"That's not important now! Jafar kidnapped this girl and is keeping her captive. I need your help! We've got to save her!"

"Hmmm…that seems like it would be right, but how can I trust you?"

"Just think of this as a way of showing how you can trust me."

Aladdin turned to Jasmine, whom in turn nodded to him. "Alright, we will help you. Besides, it has to be her!"

"She's very sick, too," Jasmine added.

"Right. Jasmine, you stay here. Genie will come with me. We'll handle this."

Jasmine nodded. "Be careful."

Aladdin turned to Iago. "Iago, show us the way."

The three left through the front door. Ratonux trailed his way out of the window and followed the trio at a great distance. After some time had passed, they came upon a cave.

"It's right in there. I wish you guys the best of luck, but right now I gotta scram!"

Iago flew up into the sky, despite Aladdin's opposing words. "Wait! Iago!"

"This doesn't look too good," He sighed, turning to Genie. "Let's just get this over with."

"Right with ya, Al!" With that, the two entered the cave. Ratonux waited a few minutes and followed. The two seemed to be nowhere in sight. He followed a path that seemed to take him to an opening, which in turn led to stairs. His steps echoed the eerily quiet cave, almost too quiet…

Until he heard a scream from up ahead. Ratonux took off in a flash, and came to stop right in between Aladdin and Genie. Right in front of them he presumed was Jafar, and the girl, tied up, barely conscious.

Aladdin and Genie both looked beside themselves, sharing the same confused look as the other. "Who are _you_?"

Inside, Ratonux laughed to himself. _'Guess_ _I couldn't blame them for being surprised.'_

"So you showed up, Aladdin," The two turned back to Jafar, whom laughed in such a sinister way that it made Ratonux's skin crawl. "Give me the genie, and you can have the girl. Pretty simple, is it not?"

Aladdin, looking frustrated beyond his mind, curled his fingers into fists in anger, and then shot a dangerous look towards Jafar. "You planned every bit of this out from the very beginning! You watched me save her from the middle of the city, didn't you?!"

That sinister laugh came again; Ratonux started feeling very sorry for the two of them. Just as quickly as things started to stir, it started to boil. Genie quickly made a move and distracted Jafar from his place. "If you want Genie, then you'd better try catching him!" Suddenly, a mysteriously flying carpet came out of nowhere. Ratonux felt his mouth drop. There really was so much to this world that deemed to be magical.

Just as Aladdin had spoken, he and Genie had jumped onto the carpet and sped away, with Jafar following behind, if not at a slower pace. "I'm not playing games, you fools!"

Ratonux suddenly realized what they were up to. They trusted _him _to save the girl, and they had yet to even know his name, or even where he came from! The blonde nobody sighed, _'Well, at least this is helping me with what I came here for.' _

Ratonux sped over to the girl, seeing she was tied up. He searched his pockets for something to use, but suddenly stopped, feeling very confused. He could've sworn he had some kind of knife…or did he? His mind seemed to feel foggy, but brushed it off, and decided to attempt to untie the knot. After a few minutes he finally got it untied. He easily lifted her up and realized just how light she was. Would Xion have been that light too? Ratonux couldn't figure it out.

'_I'll have to find another way out of the cave since they've distracted him enough to go that far…but where?'_

He could feel a breeze coming from up above him. Then, he noticed how there seemed to be a pool of moonlight coming into just this area of the cave. Looking up, he saw that he was right about his quick theory. _'So that's how he got in here!'_

Ratonux altered the way he was carrying the girl, and then carefully leaped up through the ceiling of the cave. He heard a terrifying sound. The ceiling seemed to be crumbling beneath his feet! "Shit!" He cursed, running as fast as he could to out run the thin ceilings collapse.

He neared the mouth of the cave and jumped to the ground. The entire cave collapsed, pieces of earth and clouds of dust going everywhere. Ratonux hoped that Aladdin and Genie were able to get out before he did.

A quiet mumble broke him out of his thoughts. The girl was finally starting to come out of consciousness. Ratonux carefully put her down and let her head rest on his lap. He felt his heart skip a beat.

This girl, she was…she _is_…so _beautiful_. He found his mouth became very dry, he felt incredibly nervous. He couldn't even find the words he wanted to say. The moment he caught her eyes open, the moment he saw her lavender eyes, something inside him warmed him to the hottest degree.

She seemed slightly dazed at first, but he saw that her hand had come up to caress his cheek. His hand gently touched hers in return. "Are you…are you Ane?"

Her eyes widened. "You…_you're_ the one that after all of this time, had come to finally save me. You're the hero I've been hoping and wishing for." She smiled softly. "Thank you so much."

'_Her voice has such a sweet sound, like angels singing beautifully with perfect pitch. Her smile is so wonderful…how is such a feeling like this possible? Especially for _me_?'_

Just then, Ratonux heard a very familiar sound. Instinctively he looked upon from Ane's eyes to see none other than Demyx exiting out of a portal. "Well well well, what do we have here? None other than Ratonux, the _courageous_ boy whom had not only killed the leader's right hand man, but did it with such power and force. How _intriguing_."

The blonde nobody started to feel his blood boil, much like it did when he fought with Saix. But there was something that confused him. He barely remembered fighting him, but…he actually went as far as to _kill_ him?!

Ratonux felt his stomach drop. He felt like the most disgusting thing on this planet. On _any_ planet. He felt as if he could puke his guts out for the rest of the night and it still wouldn't rid him of the dirty feelings he harbored in his chest, or at least, what feeling that was left in there.

"Just so you know, I didn't come here to see you. I came for the girl."

Ratonux's hand's defensively wrapped around Ane. "Like hell I'm letting you take her!"

Demyx laughed, "Ane, you can't stay with someone like _him_. He's a traitor. A _murderer_. Come with me, and I will be able to tell you the reason for your existence."

At that last comment, Ratonux felt Ane flinch in his arms. _'Then that can only mean…'_

"She…she's just like us, isn't she." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. She didn't have a heart, didn't have feeling, just like him…right?

"My, you're a great guesser. Unfortunately, I know you couldn't guess her real name."

"What? Ane isn't my real name?!" Her once sweet, melodious voice was now sounded with despair and confusion. "See? Now how can you go wrong with that? Wouldn't you want to let this poor girl leap into the organization and discover herself, just as you did?"

Ratonux couldn't help the laugh that erupted from somewhere inside his mind. "Funny thing about that is, I never did. I still haven't. So what if you know more about her that I don't? She and I are just the same. We can discover ourselves together."

"Ratonux, you'll never be able to get past Xemnas. You'll never be able to find out without asking him, and I know for a fact he wouldn't tell you anyway. If you come back now though, and bring that girl with you, he might change his mind."

The blonde nobody gritted his teeth with anger. "I'm never going back to that hell hole."

Demyx shrugged, "Suit yourself. I guess since I'd have to fight you to get her, I'll save it for someone else to do." Demyx's cold blue eyes locked with Ane's lavender.

"You have until tomorrow night to give me your answer. We will meet again soon…_Xena_."


End file.
